74 Degrees North

2010

audio for opera; fixed medium - stereo

18’00”

Commissioned by:

Scottish Opera

74 Degrees North is collaboration between Pete Stollery and composer Paul Mealor, set to a libretto by Peter Davidson. The story is set in the Arctic on the last day of the brief summer before the snows return and the temperatures plummet. A young Orcadian scientist is visiting the graves of Franklin’s 1840’s disastrous expedition. He is in awe of the landscape, inspired to study it in the footsteps of the Victorian explorer John Rae. Suddenly he realises he is being watched. After a troubling encounter with a stranger, the scientist starts to reflect on his own perceptions of place as the opera develops into an impassioned dialogue and the young scientist’s own perception of northern places is changed forever.

The electroacoustic score consists of sound files triggered by an operator who is part of the orchestra. The sounds are diffused live over 4 stereo pairs of loudspeakers which surround the audience.

74 Degrees North was commissioned by Scottish Opera for their FIVE:15 2010 season.