Pastorale by Gerrard Pesson, Stattstheater, Stuttgart

The Stattstheater in Stuttgart is one of Germany’s leading theatrical institutions. It is home to a theatre opera and ballet company with an international reputation for commissioning new works. This design commission came as a response to the success of a novel production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach, at the Central City Opera, Denver, USA in 2004. The Stattstheater had commissioned an entirely new opera based on the eighteenth century pastoral novel “Astrea” to be written by France’s best-known modern composer, Gerard Pesson. I was invited to join the creative team from the beginning and to work on the complete evolution of the piece and eventually design its staging and costumes at the opera house.

Being able to work on a piece in its embryonic stage and help evolve the narrative structure primarily through visual research and drawing was a particularly exciting and challenging experience. It involved a close interplay between thematic, artistic and technical research and the development of creative concepts in a collaborative context with director Paul Curran and the composer. The time scale meant that designing the production sometimes preceded the writing.

In terms of my own methodology and creative process this work was undoubtedly a new corner stone to my experiences. Working in opera rarely provides an opportunity to develop new works since so few companies can afford to commission them.

As a world premier the work received international press recognition. It was subject to editorial and review in all the leading classical music and opera publications and was broadcast live on German television.