Oliver Leith & Matt Copson - Last Days

Oliver Leith’s critically-acclaimed chamber opera Last Days premiered in a sold-out run of performances at London’s Royal Opera House in October 2022. In this new studio recording, released on Platoon in June 2024, the stellar cast return to their original roles and the 12 Ensemble led by Jack Sheen anchor Leith’s tightly wrought and deeply imaginative score. Based on the cult film Last Days written and directed by Gus Van Sant, this new opera from composer Oliver Leith and librettist Matt Copson plunges into the torment that created a modern myth, as we witness the undoing of Blake, whose self-destructive spiral lies at the heart of the 90 minute opera.

QUOTES:

Oliver Leith’s score is a sonic tapestry interweaving delicate instrumental effects, “found” sounds, and a cappella vocal timbres... The work is finely wrought, particularly as rendered here by the 12 Ensemble string orchestra under Jack Sheen’s direction. - The Independent

Leith’s score, brilliantly rendered by 12 Ensemble under Jack Sheen, is starkly original. - ‘Bachtrack’

Last Days is Leith’s first opera; I don’t think it’ll be his last - Evening Standard

Leith’s music doesn’t seek to impose itself upon the subject: rather, it is as if he has discovered the ideal subject for it to expand upon. - The Stage

‘Jack Sheen conducted the slick 12 Ensemble…balancing the push-pull sternness and rapture of a score that surely has a real future ahead’ - Opera

Last Days has felt like the thing I always wanted to make, a place where flecks of magic are chipped or hacked from mundanity. Where the familiar and domestic are heightened or warped. When I spoke to Matt about making this opera, I said I wanted to make an opera about taking the bins out. We didn’t quite do that but it does sort of happen. Doing your chores to the most teenage heartsore music and it feeling like something much more — Oliver Leith

Last Days is a Royal Opera House production, co-commissioned with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, based on the film Last Days written and directed by Gus Van Sant and produced by HBO Films.

Last Days is Leith’s first opera; I don’t think it’ll be his last - Evening Standard

Jack Sheen conducted the slick 12 Ensemble…balancing the push-pull sternness and rapture of a score that surely has a real future ahead - Opera

What this talented team have created is extraordinary…Leith’s score is a sonic tapestry interweaving delicate instrumental effects, “found” sounds, and a cappella vocal timbres…It will be fascinating to see what these people do next - Independent

Oliver Leith - future engagements:

28th June: Wigmore Hall - 7 Doom and the dooms (world premiere) 12 Ensemble, Sean Shibe, GBSR Duo

28th June: Wigmore Hall - 10 Good day good day bad day bad day - GBSR Duo

7th September: Bold Tendencies - Philharmonia Orchestra: Oliver Leith Spotlight