The Britten 100 celebrations continue next week with a fascinating double bill that pairs Britten’s haunting Curlew River with a new opera by Scottish composer Sally Beamish and librettist Clara Glynn.

Hagar in the Wilderness has been jointly commissioned and produced by Nova Music Opera and Wales’s Presteigne Festival, and makes the perfect partner for Curlew River.

The two operas were written nearly 50 years apart, but are closely bound by their shared themes of loss, dispossession and estrangement.

Britten’s 1964 masterpiece was inspired by the Japanese Noh theatre and tells the story of a woman’s desperate search for her lost son.

The new opera retells the Old Testament story of Hagar, the servant who provides Abraham with a son, Ishmael, but is cast into the wilderness when Abraham’s wife, Sarah, unexpectedly becomes pregnant and produces her own son, Isaac.

“Clara wanted something that would be like a church parable,” explains Sally. “She looked at the Bible and found the story of Hagar, which is also in the Koran, so it seemed particularly relevant.

“When Hagar and the child are dying of thirst in the desert, an angel appears and produces water. It’s meant to be where Mecca is, so it’s got a very strong Islamic influence. Ishmael is regarded as the Father of Islam, and Abraham and Isaac are obviously the fathers of Judaism.

“There’s also the idea of the dispossessed — the woman who’s surplus to requirements being ousted and left to defend for herself. It’s a very powerful, very human story.”

Sally has tried to reflect the different cultures through the music. “I’ve used the idea of Jewish dance music at the beginning, then when the angel appears at the end of the opera I’ve used references to Koranic chanting.”

How much of an influence was Britten while writing the work? “Obviously I thought about Britten, but I didn’t want to be too influenced musically by him. I listened to Curlew River then put it on one side. “My main concern was clarity, so the scoring is very transparent.

“I wanted to set the words in a way that you can hear them, so I’ve used a lot of repetition to make sure the words come through.

“The first time you hear the words they’re set very simply, but then I do something more interesting with the voice after that.”

For practical reasons, the ensemble and casting are very similar to those used by Britten.

“The scoring had to fit in with Curlew River so I chose a slightly smaller ensemble than Britten’s, with flute, viola and harp as a trio plus bass and percussion.”

The cast includes Irish baritone Owen Gilhooly, who sings in both operas, outstanding tenor Mark Milhofer, who sings the Madwoman in Curlew River, and emerging star Kirsty Hopkins, who sings the title role in Hagar.

“We needed a female singer and there isn’t one in Curlew River, so we had bass, baritone and soprano. The soprano is actually singing the child in Curlew River, which is unusual because it’s normally sung by a boy. But she does it amazingly well — you wouldn’t know it wasn’t a child until she comes on at the end. So it’s all worked very well.”

Curlew River/Hagar in the Wilderness
Church of St John the Evangelist, Oxford
October 25
Tickets: 01865 244806 or www.musicatoxford.com