JUMP INTO MY SACK

chamber opera in 1 act

(1996)

42'

Libretto by Meredith Oakes,based on a Corsican folktale told by Madame Marini, collected by J.B. Frédéric Ortoli in Les Contes Populaires de l'île de Corse (Paris 1883) and included in Italo Calvino's Fiabe Italiane (1956)

Commissioned by Mecklenburgh Opera with funds from the Arts Council of England

Francis is lame and treated cruelly by his brothers. In return for an unprompted kindness to an old woman, he is rewarded with a magic sack and a magic stick.

Read Italo Calvino's version of JUMP INTO MY SACK

Premiere: 30 May 1996, MacRobert Arts Centre, Stirling, then on tour to the Covent Garden International Festival, Peacock Theatre, London WC2

Director: John Abulafia

Designer: Agnes Treplin

Lighting: Tom Mannings

Conductor: Paul McGrath

CAST

Adey Grummet, Rebecca du Pont Davis, Niall Morris, Wyn Pencarreg

Francis - baritone

Fairy/Boy - soprano

Old Woman/Young Man/Death - mezzo soprano

Father/Devil/Doctor - tenor

Brothers, Gamblers, Narrators and Chorus, all performed by the above four singers

2 clarinets (2+bcl), guitar, violin, 'cello, double bass