HORIZON:MADOG is a new chamber opera with music by Paul Frehner and a trilingual libretto by Angela J. Murphy.  In a not too distant future where the world has been devastated by flooding and electro-magnetic storms, Madog; a descendant of the legendary Welsh prince, leads a movement for a more eco-friendly, less tech dependent future.  He hears (scratchily) a radio broadcast from Wales promising, essentially, a tech fix, which he regards with scorn, and, in his dreams, his ancestor urging him to action.  A plan emerges.

Structurally it’s a short piece; around half an hour.  There’s one character; Madog, sung by baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, with Ensemble Paramirabo accompanying (see below *).  Unusually it’s sung in a seamless (and breezily colloquial) blend of Canadian English, Québecois and Welsh.  Here’s a sample:

This we-blessed wind-blown vessel bydd hyn yn fy ysgubo yn gyflym ac yn gadarn i’w
hachub rhagddynt eu hunain [this will sweep me swiftly and soundly to save them from
themselves] et donc sauvera le monde entier.

It’s surprisingly poetic and effective.

The music is quite varied.  It’s a very modern score; sometimes jazzy, sometimes minimalist, sometimes abrasive and sometimes quite lyrical.  It works well with the text.  Williams is a very good singer and works well with all three languages and the ensemble is excellent.

The album is rounded out by a 15 minute instrumental piece Un pont sanguin.  It’s colourful and very similar in style to the opera but with some more prominent solo instrumental writing, notably  for bass clarinet (Gwénaëlle Ratouit).  It’s rather good.

The recordings; the opera was recorded at Powis Hall, Bangor University in Bangor, Wales and Un pont sanguin at the Salle de concert of the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec, are really excellent.They are vivid and transparent with a solid sound stage and lots of detail.  It’s a digital only release with both CD standard and 96kHz/24bit lossless (listened to) plus MP3 offered.  There’s no booklet but the album has it’s own web page with notes and full texts (English and French translation for the Welsh bits).

It’s different, it’s short and I really enjoyed it.

* Jeffrey Stonehouse, flutes; Hubert Brizard, violin; Viviane Gosselin, cello; Pamela Reimer, piano; Siân G. Lloyd, spoken voice; Jeremy Huw Williams, spoken voice; Paul Frehner, modular synthesizer, electric guitar and electronics.

Catalogue information: Navona Records NV6819 (to be released January 16th 2026)