S Y N O P S I S

A collaboration between Judith Weir, one of the UK’s leading composers, and award-winning film director Margaret Williams, Armida is a thrilling contemporary love story set in a war zone, charting the passionate relationship between Armida, a television journalist and Rinaldo, an army officer.

While not set in a specific time and place, its desert backdrop is powerfully evocative of many recent conflicts. The opening score blends contemporary opera with the fragmented sounds of conflict – staccato gunfire and radio interference. The libretto is in English and makes use of colloquial dialogue and speech to create a spontaneous, natural operatic language.

Building on the techniques and success of her earlier opera films, director Margaret Williams recorded the performers ‘ singing live on location in Morocco that gives an immediacy and intensity to their performance.

See Stuart Jeffries article in the Guardian.

C R E D I T S