Retrospect Opera

21/07/2025

Our wonderful conductor for our Ethel Smyth releases, Odaline de la Martinez, appeared on 'In Tune' on BBC Radio 3 this evening ahead of the Pegasus Opera production of Smyth's Fete Galante at the Royal College of Music later in the week, which she is conducting (this week sees the centenary of Fete Galante having been produced at the Royal College of Music on 22-23 July 1925). Two tracks from the Retrospect Opera recording of the opera were broadcast as part of the interview. Listen from 1.29.25 here:

Katie Derham welcomes Marios Papadopoulos, Alison Buchanan and Odaline de la Martinez.

20/07/2025

Our Trustee Valerie Langfield was in attendance at the Annual Conference of the Victorian Popular Fiction Association held at The Birmingham & Midland Institute earlier in the week, representing Retrospect Opera at a dedicated table.

There were some great links at the conference with our catalogue, for example, Andrew King gave a paper on Bantock/Sappho, and Carolin Sternberg spoke on Jack Sheppard. Retrospect Opera also sponsored the silent film evening.

The full programme for the event is here:https://victorianpopularfiction.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Conference-Schedule_FINAL.pdf

15/07/2025

'Retrospect Opera has excelled in the casting of The Seal Woman. The singing is uniformly very fine indeed, and John Andrews conducts the Orchestra of Scottish Opera sympathetically. The recording is very very good, well balanced and full, with a pleasant acoustic giving the sound bloom.'

Jim Westhead, MusicWeb International
Review of Kennedy-Fraser/Bantock, The Seal-Woman (Retrospect Opera)

Recording of The Seal Woman by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser and Granville Bantock on Retrospect Opera

05/07/2025

Great mention of the Retrospect Opera recording of C.V. Stanford's Shamus O'Brien this morning on BBC Radio 3, following broadcast of a movement from one of Stanford's symphonies. Listen from 13:13-13:51 here:

Join Emma Clarke every Saturday for Radio 3's Breakfast show

02/07/2025

Here's a short video featuring John Andrews, conductor interviewed by Benjamin Hamilton, in advance of our recent launch of Kennedy-Fraser and Bantock's The Seal-Woman.

You can also view this video here: https://youtu.be/4zgXAFc6xI0

The longer video is here (come back on 3 July for its official launch): https://youtu.be/vkIxvKnPTNY

To order our recording of The Seal-Woman: https://retrospectopera.org.uk/product/the_seal-woman



https://retrospectopera.org.uk/the-seal-woman/

30/06/2025

Many congratulations to our Trustee Professor David Chandler, whose book Succeeding Puccini: The Operatic Career of Italo Montemezzi, 1875–1952 is published today!

David's new book, co-authored with Raffaele Mellace, is the first critical biography of the composer Italo Montemezzi (1875-1952). It offers new insights into the life and work of Puccini's heir apparent, who became internationally famous with his opera L'amore dei tre re (1913).

Read the full description and purchase the volume here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/succeeding-puccini-9780197761342?q=montemezzi&lang=en&cc=us

And for anybody who wants to know the inside story, more information may be found on David's blog: https://www.davidjchandler.co.uk/blogs/post/15-years-of-italo-montemezzi

29/06/2025

One week on: last Sunday, six tracks from our recording of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser and Granville Bantock's The Seal-Woman were broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland's 'Classical Now' programme, presented by Jamie MacDougall and expertly introduced by mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby who sings the title role.

Listen again here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002dw0p (listen from 51.25-1.16.28)

To order our recording of The Seal-Woman: https://retrospectopera.org.uk/product/the_seal-woman

Our recording has also recently been reviewed by The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/26/bantock-the-seal-woman-album-review



https://retrospectopera.org.uk/the-seal-woman/

27/06/2025

One week on, here's a throwback to the launch event last Friday for our recording of The Seal-Woman, hosted at Gran T's Coffee House with cake by Eat Your Photo.

Our Trustees were joined by John Andrews, conductor and Andy H. King, in a conversation hosted by Benjamin Hamilton.

To watch the video of the launch event: https://youtu.be/1VGQ547pbfw

To order our recording of The Seal-Woman: https://retrospectopera.org.uk/product/the_seal-woman



Scottish Opera
https://retrospectopera.org.uk/the-seal-woman/

24/06/2025

Congratulations to our new volunteer, Joe Hearson on the highly successful launch of the City of Stoke-on-Trent Symphony Orchestra. This inaugural prom concert celebrated the 100th anniversary of the forming of the City of Stoke-on-Trent and saw plenty of British music, a world premiere and lots of flag-waving!

Bravo, Joe - we can't wait to see what it brings for the city in the future!

24/06/2025

🎶 OUT NOW ⏭️ The Seal-Woman
A Celtic folk opera revived for a new generation.

Retrospect Opera’s stunning new recording of The Seal-Woman, the evocative Celtic folk opera by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser and Granville Bantock, is now available! Featuring the Orchestra of Scottish Opera conducted by John Andrews, this release brings a long-overlooked masterpiece back into the spotlight.

🔗 Get your copy here: retrospectopera.org.uk/the-seal-woman

With growing interest in cultural heritage and diverse storytelling, this project restores The Seal-Woman to its rightful place in British opera. Ethnomusicologist and performer Kennedy-Fraser devoted much of her life to preserving and arranging Scottish folk melodies and many of these are woven into this rich and atmospheric score.

Revisiting The Seal-Woman offers a fresh opportunity to explore the legacy of a composer who helped shape Scotland’s musical identity. And, this recording invites new listeners, scholars, and opera houses to discover this brilliant work.

🎧 Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more about this exciting project and Retrospect Opera’s mission to revive forgotten operatic treasures.

Cast and creatives
Conductor: John Andrews
Assistant Conductor: Benjamin Hamilton
Orchestra: The Orchestra of Scottish Opera

The Cailleach (An Old Crone): Yvonne Howard
The Seal-Woman: Catherine Carby
The Seal-Sister: Catriona Hewitson
The Islesman: Seumas Begg

First Fisher: Arthur Bruce
Second Fisher and The Water-Kelpie: Christian Loizou

Three Swan-Maidens: Eve Pearson Maxwell, Caitlin Mackenzie, Amy Karensa

Gaelic Coach: Màiri MacMillan

Recording Team
Recording Producer: Matthew Bennett
Recording Engineer: Dave Rowell
Executive Producer: Andrew H. King

Thank you to all supporters that made this project possible.

23/06/2025

What a fantastic launch event we had for The Seal-Woman on Friday at Gran T's Coffee House! Huge thanks to their brilliant staff who couldn’t have been more helpful, or made more delicious iced coffee for our very first live event.

Trustee Valerie was joined by John Andrews, conductor and Andy King, Executive Producer, who brought insight, humour, and knowledge to the conversation, hosted by Benjamin Hamilton. Also super to welcome volunteer Joe Hearson to the Retrospect Family.

Unfortuantely, due to a livestream glitch, the panel may have appeared much smaller than intended for some...
..but good news! We’ve now edited the backup footage so you can watch the full event with closed captions available. Unfortunately, the beautiful CD cover cake by Eat Your Photo (and featured in the video) is all gone now, though!

To watch the video of the launch event, click below.

21/06/2025

Our recording of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser and Granville Bantock's Celtic folk opera The Seal-Woman was launched yesterday and is now available to purchase!

Here's a short video by Yvonne Howard, who plays the role of The Cailleach, the 'old crone' who functions in the opera both as the narrator of the story of the seal-woman and a participant within it.

Yvonne discusses the character of The Cailleach and reflects on the music of the opera, the legend of the seal-woman on which it is based, and the recording sessions themselves, as well as explaining what Marjory Kennedy-Fraser means to her personally.

To order our recording of The Seal-Woman, please visit: https://retrospectopera.org.uk/product/the_seal-woman

Orchestra of Scottish Opera
John Andrews, conductor
Retrospect Opera



https://retrospectopera.org.uk/the-seal-woman/