Double Bill ROMAN REVER and THE HUMAN VOICE Come to Pegasus Opera Company

Pegasus Opera Company and Hagemann Rosenthal Associates are proud to present a double bill featuring the gripping female driven stories of Roman Fever by Philip Hagemann and The Human Voice (La Voix Humaine) by Francis Poulenc, play by Jean Cocteau at Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music, London, NW1 5HT on Friday 12 April at 7.30pm, Saturday 13 at 7.30pm and Sunday 14 at 2.30pm.

The double bill will be led by an all-female cast and creative team which reflects the powerful narrative of both operas. Roman Fever, originally a short story by the acclaimed American writer Edith Wharton, comes to life on the operatic stage for the first time in the UK at Susie Sainsbury. Philip Hagemann premiered the opera in 1989 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The story revolves around Grace Ansley and Alida Slade, both widows from Manhattan, who take their daughters to Rome to share memories of their youth.  However, whilst in Rome tensions rise as Alida’s jealousy towards Grace, who has always looked down on her, comes to the surface. The story takes twists and turns as it dissects the mysteries of relationships culminating in a shocking revelation.  Hagemann’s music cradles the words, moods, and action in silken melodic strokes with touches of dissonances to highlight the feelings of the ladies toward each other. The Human Voice (La Voix Humaine) is a forty-minute, one-act opera for soprano and orchestra composed by Francis Poulenc in 1958. The opera focuses on a single character known as “she” who was abandoned by her lover who in now about to be married.  The production highlights her last telephone conversation with him and probes the dynamics of relationships.  Poulenc waited thirty years before composing this opera as he felt he needed to experience relationships himself before committing to the music.  The result is a powerful fusion of words and music.

This double bill features libretto and music by Philip Hagemann, with direction by Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE and is conducted by Rebecca Tong. Hagemann Rosenthal Associates have produced a number of plays on Broadway and in the West End. Together they are the recipient of three Tony Awards and one Olivier Award. Composer Philip Hagemann has collaborated with Pegasus Opera Company for many years, usually double bills, most recently The Six of Calais & Ruth in 2023 (5 star, London Theatre 1, 4 star The Stage), The Aspern Papers in Spring 2022; Passion, Poison and Petrification and The Prodigal Son in 2021 plus Shaw Goes Wilde in 2019, staged at the Susie Sainsbury Theatre, Royal Academy of Music. He also composed Ruth and The Dark Lady of The Sonnets at the Actors Church, Covent Garden in 2018. In addition to his operatic writingHagemann has published 75 choral compositions including a delightful Christmas novelty, Fruitcake, written with Penny Leka Knapp, which featured in the USA television series Nip/ Tuck. Hagemann has composed ten one-act and two full-length operas, two of which have won competitions from the National Opera Association in the USA.

Conductor Rebecca Tong is Resident Conductor of the Jakarta Sinfomia Orchestra and Artistic Director and Music Director of Ensemble Kontemporer. Rebecca was the First Prize Winner of the inaugural La Maestra competition in 2020, held in Paris, where she was also awarded the ARTE Prize and the French Concert Halls & Orchestras Prize. Highlights of her career include debuts with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester – Berlin, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Macedonian Philharmonic, Orchestre Chambre de Paris, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Pasadena Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Tonkünstler-Orchester. Most recent highlights include debuts with Orchestre National de Lyon, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonica do Porto Casa di Musica, Orchestre national d’Ile de France, Ulster Orchestra and Manchester Camerata. In 2019, Rebecca was recipient of the Taki Award for the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship in 2019. She was a Conducting Fellow at the 2018 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and in 2017, Rebecca was awarded the David Effron Conducting Fellowship for the Chautauqua Institution. Rebecca founded the Jakarta Christian Youth Orchestra in 2011. Of Indonesian of Chinese descent, Rebecca grew up in a musical family.

Director Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE is the Principal and CEO of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London and Artistic Architect for The National Black Theatre of Sweden. Born in London and based in Sweden from 2005-2021, Josette is an active spokesperson for inclusive arts and politics. Previously, she was the Head of Acting at Stockholm University of the Arts, Sweden; Artistic Director for The National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre Ensemble Tyst Teater (CREA) Riksteatern; the Founder and Artistic Director of PUSH, a Black-led theatre festival with the Young Vic Theatre for which she was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the arts, a Judy Craymer Award for Innovation and the Southbank Cultural Diversity Award; and co-founder of PUSH’s sister organisation in Sweden, TRYCK, which works to inspire and challenge the artistic and cultural representation of Afro-Swedes and African descent artists on national stages in Sweden.  In 2021, Josette was awarded H.M. The King’s Medal 8th size with the ribbon of the Order of the Seraphim by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf. An award-winning actor and director, her career has included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre and the Manchester Royal Exchange. She was nominated for an Olivier Award, is the recipient of a TMA Award, and starred in the internationally acclaimed production Nina: A Story about Me and Nina Simone, now a documentary film for SVT Sweden. She has served on the board of the Swedish Film Institute, as chairwoman for CinemAfrica, a Swedish Non-Profit organisation devoted to celebrating African and Diaspora film culture, is currently on the Board of Trustees for the University of London and Hackney Empire, and is Patron of the Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

"It's a delight to be invited to direct at Pegasus, especially these two brilliant operas. The red lie of love, madness and human relationships – is a wonderful opportunity to remind us of the funniest, but darkest moments of who we are. The female gaze and centring that voice is timely. I am doubly proud, as I will be working with so many brilliant colleagues, many of whom are artists that graduated from Central. Couldn't be better!"

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