A delightful presentation of The Whaletone Opera was given by Japanese composer Makoto Nomura at the Amersham Music Centre on Saturday 27th June at the Amersham School. A selection of music students were treated to a fun workshop in which they were invited to improvise on several items that are included in the opera. They then presented this in a concert for parents, students and teachers.

The opera itself was completed in 2005 with 4 acts. It was a collaboration between Makoto Nomura and the British composer Hugh Nankivell and was produced in a series of workshops in Japan and England. It has been staged professionally in Japan.

Improvisation was the key to the creation for lyrics and music, and the result is a curious and fun mixture of cultural exchanges. Many of the musical ideas come from the two composers, with improvised instrumental and coice contributions from the workshop participants of Tokyo, Huddersfield and Blackpool.

The strange story line reflects the different cultural locations resulting in a production that is fantastical.

Act 1: Fat girl couldn’t lose weight. Act 2: A witch turns a girl into a Hippopotamus. Act 3: A sick Samurai leader from Blackpool recovers by kissing a beautiful girl. Act 4: Hippo shipped mistakenly from Blackpool to Jamaica instead of the intended Japan. Hippo then marries a Jamaican cow.

The students in Amersham were given the task of putting together three items including instrumental items and a song. The song was improvised by making up lyrics taken from the classroom wall charts, and resulted in a zany story of rat eating. Makoto then recited a Japanese fold tune into which the new lyrics were put, and Makoto directed this with the added improvisation of instruments randomly selected.

These items were included in a concert given by a group of professional musicians/composers who presented their own compositions. They included Makoto, local composer Andrew Melvin, with fellow composer Joel Bell and drummer Zach McCullough. They gave a very inspiring and at times humorous performance of their works.

Bob Okey, July 2009.