The Show

The director of Call Me Ishmael is Nicholas Heath, head of the independent London-based opera company Opera A La Carte. He has been a member of The Royal Opera Company at Covent Garden for the last ten years and has worked under every major opera director in the world. Last summer his company’s Cosi fan Tutte toured Ireland to great acclaim in the Irish press.

Directors note

The cast of singers of Call Me Ishmael is as follows:

Ahab - Benjamin Bevan, baritone
Ishmael – Sebastian Brouwer, tenor
Starbuck – Elliot Goldie, tenor
Pip/Moby Dick – Maureen Brathwaite, soprano
Queequeg – David Durham, bass
Stubb – Mike Dewis, baritone
Landlord/Daggoo – John Milne, bass
Father Mapple/Flask – Russell Ablewhite, tenor
Captain Peleg/Perth – Martin Robson, bass
Tashtego – Gerard Delrez, baritone
Elijah - Majka Kaiser, contralto
Manxman - Francis Jellard, contralto
Long Island Sailor – soprano

The singers also double as members of the chorus (generally SATB – 2,2,2,2) which represent the crew, the church congregation, wives of the sailors, and the Greek chorus in the Kyrie at the end of the apocalypse.

Call Me Ishmael is scored for an orchestra of 30 players comprising:
flute (doubling piccolo), oboe (doubling english horn), clarinet (doubling tenor sax and bass clarinet), bassoon, 2 french horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, percussion (2 players including drum set and timpani), synthesizer, electric piano, harp, 4 first violins, 4 second violins, 3 violas, 2 cellos, 1 bass (doubling electric bass), electric guitar. Such an orchestra allows development of symphonic, jazz or rock elements and is extremely versatile.

The orchestra engaged for the world premiere is The Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra under director Conrad van Alphen. Mr. Van Alphen and Gary Goldschneider have done CD recording together and have toured Russia and Bulgaria in concert in the last two years. The orchestra recently made a new CD for Telarc in America of Grieg, Dvorak and Elgar which has been received with great acclaim worldwide. This dynamic, young orchestra is now in its fourth season and is highly regarded by critics and audiences alike.

The world premiere of Call Me Ishmael will not be confined to static sets but rather will use the projection of video images on sails live in performance to create the ambience of the sea and the boat in Act Two, and also be employed in the inn, the church and the wharf in Act One. The whale, the boat and other large-scale units will be suggested using light, ropes and virtual images.   

Images of the show

Composer

Director

Conductor

Cast