THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS
a comic opera
Trevor Wishart (2019)

Am 5. Juni 2025 um 18h, im Kammermusiksaal der Folkwang UdK, Trevor Wishart (UK) hält seinen Ex Machina Vortrag über sein Werk The Garden of Earthly Delights. Gleich danach, um 19.30 in der Neuen Aula der Folkwang UdK, erleben wir das Stück im Konzert. Der Überblick von Trevor:

Inspired by Bosch’s famous painting, Trevor Wishart’s multichannel audio work explores our contemporary situation, traversing an audio-maze of human predicaments.

Overview

LIMBO

Thankyou for callingYou are number two thousand three hundred and second in the queue. We, at Going Forward Together (GFT) ®, are working tirelessly on your behalf ….

Libretto : Martin Riley

THE VAGRANAUT’S CROSSING

Traffic Incident Report : Surveillance cameras report a suspicious individual shouting at traffic on the Main Highway. Please investigate.

Libretto : Martin Riley

THE ORACLE

Abstract : Recent advances in psychometric game theory and algebraic hand-waving have converged in the promising new field of Artificial Wisdom. Our newly developed interface, Oracle-2, is currently in the testing stage  (warning signal sounds ….)..

Libretto : Trevor Wishart

THE MISSION

Mission Statement : GFT ® announce a rigorous selection process for The Mission. We expect to have a highly qualified team assembled by the time the escape vehicle is launch-ready. Judging will commence!

Libretto : Martin Riley

THE RALLY

Press Release : We are proud to present another Great Leader© who, as is customary, will solve all your problems – in return for your unwavering loyalty.

THE FOREST PATH

Recommended Route : Cross the stile and follow the path that enters the wood. After a short ascent, cross a stream. Continue through trees into open country until the summit is reached.

Libretto: Katrina Porteous

THE NEGOTIATIONS

From our Foreign Correspondent: Intense negotiations are continuing over matters of mutual concern. We are unable to throw any light on the progress of these talks.

Performers of vocal source material and other collaborators

The Oracle :​Lore Lixenberg and First Year Choir of the Royal Conservatory, Den Haag.

The Negotiations : ​Marie Guilleray,  Áslákur Ingvarsson.

The Vagranaut :​Martin Riley, with Jacqueline Wishart.

Music for “Limbo” :​Ben Eyes, University of York.

Bureaucrats, Mission1 :​Students & staff, York St. Johns University.

Judges, Interrogators :​Luke Dickson, John Mee, Rebecca Riley, Maggi Stratford.

Brass players :​Honor Hornsby, Martha Dean, Samuel Gibb.

Special  thanks to the Konrad Boehmer Foundation.

Trevor Wishart: (b 1946) Composer/performer from the North of England
specialising in sound metamorphosis, and constructing the software to make it
possible (Sound Loom / CDP). He has lived and worked as composer-in-residence in
Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Mexico and the USA. He creates
music with his own voice, for professional groups, or in imaginary worlds
conjured up in the studio. His recent work “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
(2021) is a darkly comic take on the human situation using the voices of actors,
singers and politicians. He is also the principle developer of music processing
software for the Composer’s Desktop Project. His aesthetic and technical ideas
are described in the books On Sonic Art, Audible Design and Sound Composition.
In 2008 he was awarded the international Giga-Herz Grand prize for his life’s
work, and in 2018 the British Association of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
(BASCA) Award for Innovation.

www.trevorwishart.co.uk.