The Waves: Louis Mander and Tamsin Treverton Jones’ operatic adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel to premiere in Oslo

Virginia Woolf: The Waves cover of the first edition, designed by Vanessa Bell

Virginia Woolf’s 1931 novel, The Waves, is regarded as her most experimental, consisting of ambiguous and cryptic soliloquies spoken mainly by six characters. It is her attempt to evoke the unconscious aspect of being and the innate essence of existence, and so far the work does not seem to have been adapted as an opera, though director Katie Mitchell adapted the work for the stage, at the National Theatre, in 2006 [see Mitchell’s article in The Guardian].

Now librettist Tamsin Treverton Jones and composer Louis Mander have taken the plunge. Treverton Jones is a writer and poet, and has worked on opera librettos before including Thea for composer Amanda Johnson. Mander is an experience stage composer, having written more than a dozen music theatre works (opera, operetta and musicals) plus two ballets.

Their new operatic version of The Waves will premiere at the Oslo Opera Festival in September 2024 in a production directed by Einar Bjørge and conducted by Mander. The production will feature six young singers, William Stevens, William Diggle, Daniel Gray Bell, Hannah Edmunds, Mae Heydorn and Pauline Aase.

Before then, there will be the chance for UK audiences to get a taste of the work as on 24 July, these singers and repetiteur Stefan Ibsen Zlatanos will be sharing the music from the opera at an event at Hawkwood College in Stroud.