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In space, no one can hear you sing... Unless you are in a rare performance of Michael Tippett's intergalactic opera, New Year.

Two worlds collide as visitors from the future land their space-ship amidst the urban realities of today. A wild and eclectic musical dream, completed when the composer was aged 83. Its vivid music takes influence from rock opera and musicals, with head-nods to reggae, rap, the electronic sound effects of television sci-fi, and probably the most sinister rendition of Auld Lang Syne you'll ever hear.

An edited recording of a semi-staged performance from 13 April, 2024, at City Halls, Glasgow.

Presented by Kate Molleson

Presenter ..... Alan Oke (tenor)
Jo Ann ..... Rhian Lois (soprano)
Donny ..... Ross Ramgobin (baritone)
Nan ..... Susan Bickley (mezzo soprano)
Pelegrin ..... Robert Murray (tenor)
Merlin ..... Roland Wood (baritone)
Regan ..... Rachel Nicholls (soprano)
Â鶹Éç Singers
Â鶹Éç Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins (conductor)
Victoria Newlyn (concert director)

Synopsis

Act 1
The action of New Year is divided between two worlds: ‘Somewhere and Today’ (a city recognisably in our modern world) and ‘Nowhere and Tomorrow’ (in the future, and in another world). The action is framed and introduced by a Master of Ceremonies or ‘Presenter’.
In the world of ‘Somewhere and Today’, Jo Ann is a trainee child psychologist. She has become agoraphobic. She lives with her foster-mother, Nan, and her Afro-Caribbean foster-brother, Donny, who has become lost and delinquent, longing to know more of his true origins.
A contrasting trio is introduced in ‘Nowhere and Tomorrow’: the wizard Merlin, building his time-travel machine; Pelegrin, the young pilot; and Regan, their boss. They travel to the city where Jo Ann and Donny live, arriving at New Year.

Act 2
During age-old celebratory rituals – including a Shamanic Dance – Donny gets chosen as the scapegoat, his ceremonial beating interrupted by the arrival of the time-travelling visitors. While Regan confronts Donny, whose reggae she crudely imitates, Jo Ann and Pelegrin are transfixed by one another. The crowd becomes increasingly violent towards the visitors, who escape, leaving Donny to be beaten up for real as the midnight bell rings in the new year.

Act 3
Jo Ann returns to the solitude and safety of her apartment, where Donny joins her, singing of his secret longings.
Pelegrin arrives to whisk Jo Ann away to Nowhere, a magical dreamscape where she can drink either from a fountain of blissful forgetfulness or from a lake of painful remembrance. In love with the mysterious stranger, she dances with him in what seems to be paradise. But oblivion and paradise are dreams; the earth, with its joys and horrors, must be confronted. Jo Ann returns to her own world and, while Donny’s future is uncertain, she is now able to leave her apartment and confront the city. She carries a rose given to her by Pelegrin: proof that her dream was not entirely imaginary, and that its paradise can, perhaps, be built on earth.

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