Rocking Horse Winner – a brand new opera co-commissioned by Scottish Opera and Tapestry Opera, with music by Scottish Opera’s former Composer in Residence Gareth Williams – won 5 awards at the 38th-annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards.
The Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which are presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts to honour theatre, dance, and opera productions in the city, took place at Elgin Theatre on 26 June 2017. Rocking Horse Winner was a clear favourite, winning Outstanding Production, Outstanding Direction (Michael Mori), Outstanding Male Performance (Asitha Tennekoon), Outstanding Performance Ensemble and Outstanding Lighting Design (Michelle Ramsay).
The new opera, which premiered in Toronto on Saturday 28 May 2016, is a modern adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s short story by Edinburgh-based composer Gareth Williams and Canadian librettist Anna Chatterton. The production was directed by Tapestry Opera’s Artistic Director Michael Mori.
The story explores the relationship between Paul, a young man with developmental challenges, and his emotionally distant mother. Paul becomes dangerously obsessed with solving the “bad luck” of his family in order to win his mother’s love. His pursuit awakens a strange magic that connects him to luck, but also to powerful voices only he can hear.
Scottish Opera and Tapestry Opera have enjoyed an extremely productive relationship over the past nine years. Their international partnership has resulted in numerous artistic exchanges and collaborations, including the world premiere of The Devil Inside (2016), created by renowned composer Stuart MacRae and critically acclaimed novelist Louise Welsh.