The Mermaid of Zennor is a chamber orchestra written in 2011 by Martin Kratz and composed by Leo Geyer.The opera has been described by the Times as an imaginative and beautifully shaped take on the Cornish legend and has now been performed three times since the sell-out premiere production at the RNCM in 2011. Leo has conducted all the performances of the opera including the most recent production by the Contsella Orchestra at the Tête à Tête Opera Festival 2012 at the London Riverside Studios. The Legend In this legend from Cornwall, a mermaid becomes entranced by the beautiful singing of a young fisherman called Matthew Trewhella. Every night in the local church, Matthew sings the evening hymn. The mermaid, Morveren, comes in disguise and listens. She always leaves before the end of the hymn and although they never speak, the couple fall in love. One night Morveren accidentally lingers. In her ensuing rush to leave, she trips and exposes her tail. Matthew declares his love for her and returns with her to the sea. Local fisherman claim that on certain nights you can still hear Matthew singing over the waves. Synopsis of the Opera In this modern retelling...

The Times 20/08/12 The lights dimmed in Riverside’s tiny Studio 3. Stage right, an eight-piece band. Stage left, a washed-up fisherman. Sea mist swirling. This was composer-conductor Leo Geyer’s imaginative and beautifully shaped take on the Cornish legend, Mermaid of Zennor, an update of the timeless myth of the woman of the sea luring the man of the land. And, thanks to Martin Kratz’s pungent, spare and self-echoing libretto and the salty sea-surge of Geyer’s score, this one left me wanting more. Geyer’s skill at dissolving elevated speech into aria, duet and trio set up the ebb and flow of musical tides. Caught between them were the baritone Timothy Langston as Matthew the fisherman, sensuous mezzo of Harriet Eaves as Morveren the mermaid and soprano Amy Webber as the anoraked, well-intentioned but ultimately helpless Walker. Florence Wright’s stage direction focused solely and eloquently on body language (with the cliff-path Walker descending from the back stalls). Robert Hughill (Critic) The piece opened with a poetic and beautifully realised instrumental prelude which rose out of the sounds of the waves. Throughout Geyer’s writing for the instruments was poised and sparely elegant. Even in a studio theatre with the instrumentalists placed next...

Click here  to watch a performance from the production from the Tête à Tête Opera Festival 2012 at the London Riverside Studios.