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Richard Ayres's The Cricket Recovers in Swiss Premiere at Theater Basel

Mar. 01, 2017

Richard Ayres's <em>The Cricket Recovers</em> in Swiss Premiere at Theater Basel

Theater Basel presents the Swiss premiere of Richard Ayres’s delightfully madcap chamber opera The Cricket Recovers on March 22. The production, led by Stephen Delaney and with stage design by Daniela Kranz, runs through May 24.

Ayres’s The Cricket Recovers transports us to an extraordinary forest where all is not as it seems.The eponymous cricket wakes up one morning with a gloomy feeling in his head. His proceeding voyage of self discovery to grapple with his depression with the help of his fellow animals is simultaneously entertaining and moving. The animals also help an elephant who can’t stop climbing trees. Yet as the sun comes up on a new day, the memories of the previous day vanish leaving only the wise Owl wondering what sort of world she inhabits.


(The Cricket Recovers at Holland Festival 2011; Asko|Schönberg Ensemble; Etienne Siebens; Pierre Audi)

Following its premiere with Aldeburgh Almeida Opera in 2005, the piece was hailed as “zany,” “anarchic,” and “a fizzy cocktail of hyperactivity, Baroque poise, Straussian pastiche, tantalizing tango and much more” (Evening Standard). The Cricket Recovers is a fascinating theatrical experience for both children and adults alike.

For more information on Richard Ayres, visit schott-music.com.

Richard Ayres
The Cricket Recovers (2005)
a chamber opera
libretto (Eng) by Rozalie Hirs, based on a story by Toon Tellegen
German translation by Mirjam Pressler
for 3 sopranos, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass
pic(fl, afl).Ebcl(Bbcl).bcl(Bbcl).cbsn(bsn)-2.2(1. In Bb, 2. In C).0.euph.0-timp.perc-3vn.db
70’

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