University of York Music Press

Del Nista gives “credit to Warner and Blake for putting on stage stories that are normally the preserve of television and the internet” for this political piece. Commisioned by the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte, this new opera with music from Blake and lyrics from Warner, saw the RNCM Chamber Ensemble conducted by Ronald Boer.

The article describes how, “the orchestral sound was refined and mellow, although it toughened up for particular episodes. The associations between text and music were equally sophisticated, and there were fleeting references to Gregorian modes.”

There was high praise from Del Nista for Blake’s “adroitly…highly personal style” while also commenting on the “fine playing both from the band overall, and from individual players.”

He judged the production overall to be “very impressive” and “brilliantly put together.”