Artist Len Lye celebrated in new multi-media opera

In a feat of artistic innovation, the life and work of one of this country’s most inventive artists will soon be immortalised in an original New Zealand opera.

New Zealand-born Len Lye (1901-1980) was a pioneer of kinetic art and filmmaking whose work challenged traditional boundaries and forged new explorations of sound and movement.

Fittingly, then, LEN LYE the opera promises to be a multi-media extravaganza featuring a jazz-influenced score and an original mix of music, theatre, film, dance and spectacle.

The opera boasts an acclaimed cast of international singers including James Harrison (UK), sopranos Ursula Langmayr (Austria) and Lilia Carpinelli (Italy) as well as New Zealand favourites Anna Pierard, Carmel Carroll and Te Oti Rakena.

The award-winning creative team includes Eve de Castro-Robinson (composer), Roger Horrocks (libretto), Uwe Grodd (artistic director and conductor) and Murray Edmond (stage director), Shirley Horrocks (moving images), Kristen Sorrenson (costume design), Nik Janiurek (lighting design).

As a burgeoning young artist in Christchurch, Lye realised he wanted to “compose motion, just as musicians compose sound”. This revelation remained central to his life and art, informing six decades of creative work in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States that included films, paintings, drawings, writings and sculpture.

In addition to his kinetic works, Lye was highly regarded as a filmmaker whose radical techniques broke new ground, particularly in the field of animation. His technique of “direct animation” – a process of drawing and scratching designs directly onto film – has earned him the accolade of “legendary” among many animators.

Composer Eve de Castro Robinson has long been fascinated with Len Lye, who she describes as the “quintessential creative figure - with an exuberant, quirky personality and a life story dramatic enough to be opera material”. The composer describes LEN LYE the opera as a “21st century opera,” with a varied score featuring both jazz and classical compositions.

Opera libretto and Len Lye biographer Roger Horrocks acknowledges the challenges of mounting a contemporary, original opera - and is confident that the production will do justice to its central figure.

“Len Lye used to say, ‘I think my art will be pretty good for the 21st century,’ and that is borne out by the rising interest in his work. We believe there’s a growing audience interested in what’s new and fresh in music, in theatre, and in the visual arts. A great team of creative people are contributing their ideas to this production to ensure it has lots of 'wow moments,' and to prove that contemporary opera can be entertaining as well as relevant, full of surprises for both eyes and ears!”

LEN LYE the opera will be premiered at the Maidment Theatre (7 Alfred St) from 5-8 September. Tickets are available from the Maidment Theatre box office on 09 308 2383 or www.maidment.auckland.ac.nz.

For more information about the opera visit www.lenlyeopera.auckland.ac.nz

Short biographies of singers and creative team attached. Full bio’s and photos available on request.

SHORT BIOGRAPHIES - Singers

James Harrison (baritone) - Len Lye
James Harrison was a popular choice for the lead role, both because he bears a striking resemblance to the charismatic artist Len Lye, and because James is a rising star in the opera world. He has starred in many operas in the United Kingdom, both modern and traditional. He has also sung at the Royal Albert Hall and at many choral festivals in the UK.

After graduating from The University of Auckland’s School of Music, James became a Dame Malvina Major Emerging Artist with the NBR New Zealand Opera. A scholarship winner, he went to study at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School at the Royal College of Music where he won three top prizes before embarking on a professional career in the UK.

Anna Pierard (Mezzo Soprano) – Ann Lye (Len’s second wife)
Born in Tauranga to a celebrated musical family, Anna Pierard started out in the National Youth Choir, became a finalist in the Mobil Song Quest, then won a place to the prestigious Guildhall School of Music in London. Since graduating she has maintained a busy international career as a singer, in operas by Handel, Purcell, Mozart, Wagner and Puccini, along with contemporary composers. She has won many scholarships and awards. Despite her growing reputation in Europe, Anna still maintains a strong presence in New Zealand. She won enthusiastic reviews for her recent performance as the seductive Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana for NBR New Zealand Opera and she has sung with the NZSO, the Auckland Philharmonia and the Auckland Choral Society.

Ursula Langmayr (soprano) – Jane Lye (the artist’s first wife)
Born in Austria, Ursula Langmayr has sung for many notable conductors (such as Ricardo Chially, Dennis Russell Davies and Jonathan Nott) and orchestras (such as the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin State Opera orchestra). Her repertoire has been extremely rich and wide-ranging - both classic and contemporary, operatic and choral.
Ursula visited New Zealand in 2010 and sang in The Messiah in the Auckland Town Hall. In August this year she will return to Auckland to sing Strauss’s Four Last Songs and Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor conducted by Uwe Grodd. She will also bring her “radiant” and “crystal-clear” soprano voice (as critics have described it) to the part of Jane Lye, the glamorous dancing instructor who was Lye’s first wife.

Lilia Carpinelli (soprano) – the girlfriend
Lilia Carpinelli has a growing international reputation as a soprano. Besides appearing with orchestras in many countries, she was in Beijing to perform at the Opening of the Olympics in 2005. She has been first prize-winner in three Italian opera competitions and sung in many notable productions of 18th century operas in Europe.
A graduate of The University of Auckland and the Salerno Conservatorium in Italy, she maintains a strong presence in New Zealand. Recent concerts here have included solos in Vivaldi’s Gloria and a mass by Rossini in the Auckland Town Hall, a prominent role in the programme Vienna Nights in theTelstra Theatre and a hugely successful Red Cross benefit concert after the Christchurch earthquake.


Carmel Carroll (Mezzo soprano) - Len’s mother Rose
Carmel Carroll is one of New Zealand’s most experienced singers, performing with many orchestras and music groups. She’s had an impressive international career, playing the title role of Carmen for the Edinburgh Grand Opera and directing students at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

She was seen in the recent NBR NZ Opera production of Jenufa and in operas by Verdi, Strauss, Puccini and many other composers. A leading figure in the training of young singers, she’s also had great success as a director of operas (such as Cosi fan Tutte and The Turn of the Screw). To quote a review in NZ Opera News “Carroll’s superb vocal ability and strong acting expertise were exceptional and I do not expect that any singer of international standing could have given a better performance.”

SHORT BIOGRAPHIES - Creative Team
Eve de Castro-Robinson (Composer)
Eve de Castro-Robinson is one of New Zealand's leading composers. She has had commissions from New Zealand's leading ensembles and orchestras, and from international groups such as the Dutch HEX and the Nash Ensemble of London. She has won two SOUNZ Contemporary Awards, two Philip Neill Memorial Prizes and has three solo CDs on the Atoll label. Eve, who teaches composition in The University of Auckland’s School of Music, has long been inspired by the art of Len Lye. In the words of Herald reviewer William Dart, “De Castro-Robinson has one of the most distinctive of our musical voices, with a rare blend of intelligence and whimsical humour.”
Roger Horrocks (Libretto)
Roger Horrocks once worked as Len Lye's assistant. The acknowledged world expert on the artist, he is author of LEN LYE: A Biography (a best-seller and finalist for a Montana Book Award). An Emeritus Professor of The University of Auckland, Roger was founder and Head of its Department of Film, Television and Media Studies. Art that Moves, a film about Lye’s early life that he wrote and directed, has been screened in many festivals and won the Van Gogh Award at the Amsterdam Film Festival. Roger was recently interviewed for the Depot’s Cultural Icons series of online “Conversations with iconic people who have shaped our arts and culture”.

Murray Edmond (Stage Director)
Murray Edmond has worked for a number of theatre companies in New Zealand and the UK. In addition to his work as writer, performer and director, he is a highly experienced dramaturge who has helped develop a range of innovative theatre projects - by David Geary, Albert Wendt, Witi Ihimaera, Toa Fraser and the Indian Ink Theatre Company (Krishnan’s Dairy, The Candlestickmaker, The Pickle King, Guru of Chai). Murray is an Associate Professor who heads the Drama programmes at The University of Auckland. He is also a leading New Zealand poet, the author of 13 collections of poetry and co-editor of influential anthologies such as Big Smoke.

Uwe Grodd (Artistic Director and Conductor)
Uwe Grodd, a professor at The University of Auckland's School of Music, enjoys an international reputation as a conductor. He has won numerous awards including First Prize at the Cannes Classical Awards 2000 and two Gramophone Editor's Choice Awards in the UK. He has performed in the 53rd and 54th Handel Festivals and conducted a season of Handel's recently re-discovered opera Imeneo in Germany and conducted a range of recordings for the Naxos label. Besides helping to promote little-known but important composers of the past (such as Hummel and Ries), he is strongly committed to the music of our own time. To quote New Zealand Herald music critic William Dart: “Musically, they don’t come much more special than Grodd. The man redefines what it means to be versatile.”

Shirley Horrocks (Moving Images)
Shirley Horrocks (who also knew Lye personally) is one of New Zealand’s most accomplished directors and producers. Through her company Point of View Productions she has specialised in arts documentaries. Helen Martin wrote in the Directory of World Cinema in 2010: “Her work has a very wide audience, winning a number of prestigious awards and screenings in festivals around the world.” It is appropriate that an opera about a multi-media artist should include moving images, and Shirley will be providing the production with a striking visual dimension, evoking in artistic terms the colourful contexts through which Len Lye moved in the course of his career.




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