Tokaido Road four-star review in The Times
31-07-2014, 03:20The Times, July 8th 2014
★★★★☆
The real hotspot of the Cheltenham Festival has become the intimate space of the Parabola Arts Centre: this year so far it has attracted..
and, best of all, Nicola LeFanu’s new music-theatre piece Tokaido Road.
Inspired by the Japanese artist Hiroshige’s woodblock print series 53 Stations of the Tokaido, LeFanu and her librettist Nancy Gaffield have created an existential journey in speech, song, mime and dance with Hiroshige’s pictures projected. What with unhappy love, treacherous rivers and wintry scenes, it’s rather like an oriental Winterreise. We’re left with Hiroshige in old age, singing his own epitaph, and the dying murmurs of the sho (Japanese mouth organ) and flickerings of the plucked koto.
The strongest element in Tokaido Road is LeFanu’s sensitive use of the combined western and Japanese sound palette of the Okeanos ensemble, which combines the likes of sho and koto with oboe, clarinet, viola and cello.
The piece is well paced and meticulously thought through, with spare instrumental lines exquisitely woven with the voices and deftly conducted by Dominic Wheeler. The director Caroline Clegg and choreographer Nando Messias guide the body language of the old Hiroshige (baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, speaking) and the young, travelling Hiroshige (Williams, singing), the two lovers Kikuyo (Raphaela Papadakis) and Mariko (Caryl Hughes), and Tomoko Komura’s superb mime artistry. Every word is audible, every movement is eloquent and Kimie Nakano’s design remains long in the mind’s eye.
Hilary Finch
★★★★☆
The real hotspot of the Cheltenham Festival has become the intimate space of the Parabola Arts Centre: this year so far it has attracted..
and, best of all, Nicola LeFanu’s new music-theatre piece Tokaido Road.
Inspired by the Japanese artist Hiroshige’s woodblock print series 53 Stations of the Tokaido, LeFanu and her librettist Nancy Gaffield have created an existential journey in speech, song, mime and dance with Hiroshige’s pictures projected. What with unhappy love, treacherous rivers and wintry scenes, it’s rather like an oriental Winterreise. We’re left with Hiroshige in old age, singing his own epitaph, and the dying murmurs of the sho (Japanese mouth organ) and flickerings of the plucked koto.
The strongest element in Tokaido Road is LeFanu’s sensitive use of the combined western and Japanese sound palette of the Okeanos ensemble, which combines the likes of sho and koto with oboe, clarinet, viola and cello.
The piece is well paced and meticulously thought through, with spare instrumental lines exquisitely woven with the voices and deftly conducted by Dominic Wheeler. The director Caroline Clegg and choreographer Nando Messias guide the body language of the old Hiroshige (baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, speaking) and the young, travelling Hiroshige (Williams, singing), the two lovers Kikuyo (Raphaela Papadakis) and Mariko (Caryl Hughes), and Tomoko Komura’s superb mime artistry. Every word is audible, every movement is eloquent and Kimie Nakano’s design remains long in the mind’s eye.
Hilary Finch
LeFanu awarded Elgar Bursary
01-07-2014, 06:52LeFanu has been awarded the Elgar Bursary, which supports a major commission for the BBCSO. Read more on this link:
http://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/index.php/rps_today/news/nicola_lefanu_awarded_the_elgar_bursary_2014
http://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/index.php/rps_today/news/nicola_lefanu_awarded_the_elgar_bursary_2014
Apr 2022
Mar 2022
Feb 2022
Nov 2021
Sep 2021
Jul 2021
Jun 2021
May 2021
Feb 2021
Dec 2020
Oct 2020
Aug 2020
Jul 2020
Apr 2020
Mar 2020
Aug 2019
May 2019
Mar 2019
Feb 2019
Jan 2019
Dec 2018
Oct 2018
Sep 2018
Aug 2018
Jul 2018
Jun 2018
Apr 2018
Mar 2018
Feb 2018
Jan 2018
Nov 2017
Oct 2017
Sep 2017
Jul 2017
Apr 2017
Mar 2017
Feb 2017
Jan 2017
Oct 2016
Sep 2016
Jun 2016
Feb 2016
Jan 2016
Dec 2015
Sep 2015
Aug 2015
Apr 2015
Jan 2015
Nov 2014
Jul 2014
Jun 2014
Apr 2014
Mar 2014
Jan 2014
Dec 2013
Nov 2013
Oct 2013
May 2013
Apr 2013
Feb 2013
Oct 2012
Aug 2012
Jun 2012
May 2012
Mar 2012
Feb 2012
Dec 2011
Nov 2011
Oct 2011
Sep 2011
Aug 2011
Mar 2022
Feb 2022
Nov 2021
Sep 2021
Jul 2021
Jun 2021
May 2021
Feb 2021
Dec 2020
Oct 2020
Aug 2020
Jul 2020
Apr 2020
Mar 2020
Aug 2019
May 2019
Mar 2019
Feb 2019
Jan 2019
Dec 2018
Oct 2018
Sep 2018
Aug 2018
Jul 2018
Jun 2018
Apr 2018
Mar 2018
Feb 2018
Jan 2018
Nov 2017
Oct 2017
Sep 2017
Jul 2017
Apr 2017
Mar 2017
Feb 2017
Jan 2017
Oct 2016
Sep 2016
Jun 2016
Feb 2016
Jan 2016
Dec 2015
Sep 2015
Aug 2015
Apr 2015
Jan 2015
Nov 2014
Jul 2014
Jun 2014
Apr 2014
Mar 2014
Jan 2014
Dec 2013
Nov 2013
Oct 2013
May 2013
Apr 2013
Feb 2013
Oct 2012
Aug 2012
Jun 2012
May 2012
Mar 2012
Feb 2012
Dec 2011
Nov 2011
Oct 2011
Sep 2011
Aug 2011