Dream Hunter – a new chamber opera composed by Nicola LeFanu to a libretto by John Fuller – goes into rehearsal this week, and opens on October 25th 2011 at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in Wales. 

Set in Corsica, the opera explores the ambiguity surrounding the mazzere - women gifted with the prescience of death. If they foresee death, do they also cause it? The men may hunt by day, but the women hunt in their dreams. Sampiero is betrothed to Angela, but it is her younger sister Catarina whom he wants. Courtships of desire, courtships of death: where is the borderline between fact and fancy? As the story unfolds, imagination and reality become entwined.

Lontano Ensemble is grateful for the support of the following organisations:

The Arts Council of Wales, the RVW Trust, the Britten Pears Foundation, The Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, the D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, The Mercers Foundation, The PRS Foundation and the Mornington Trust.

The opera centres on Catarina and her growing awareness of her powers. It turns on this collision of two worlds: the world of dreams, where our fantasy knows no bounds, and the real world where our actions will be judged. As the story unfolds, imagination and reality become entwined.

John Fuller, is renowned as a poet and storyteller. He divides his time between his house in Wales, and Oxford, where he is a College Fellow.

Dream Hunter is Nicola LeFanu’s seventh opera, following the critically acclaimed Light Passing.

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