Open Port

Full title: ‘Open Port: We Turned On the Light’. Composers: Orlando Gough, Jeremy Avis. Lyricists: Caryl Churchill, Tamsin Collson.  Commissoned as a mass choral event to mark the close of Stavanger’s year as European City of Culture.

An original choral work for 40 local Norwegian choirs, 3 National Norwegian Choirs, vocal ensemble The Shout, a brass band, a group of Norwegian lurs (wooden trumpets) and a helicopter.  Incorporating a reorchestrated version of global warming anthem: ’We Turned On the Light’ by Orlando Gough and playwright Caryl Churchill (commissioned for BBC Proms 2006).

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My main contribution was to the section of the programme where they laid the foundation stone of Stavanger’s new opera house. The stone was flown in by helicopter across the harbour during the performance.

Stone sown in sleeping soil,

Lie in the dark and wait:
Like a seed that will root
Like a leaf that will sprout
Like a pod that will split
Like a fruit that will burst
Like an egg that will hatch
Like a match that will flare
Like a pen that will write
Like a bell that will ring
Like a loaf that will rise
Like a rose that will bloom
Like a tear that will fall
Like a sail that will fill
Like a heart that will sing
Like a voice that will soar…
And wait for the hour
When the walls shall rise up
To the sound of
Trumpets