Out of Her Mouth

Three extraordinary cantatas by Élisabeth Jaquet de la Guerre, in bold new translations by Toria Banks, staged for the first time in the UK in partnership with Dunedin Consort and Hera

Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre’s biblical cantatas are extraordinary historical jewels. Mahogany Opera worked in partnership with Dunedin Consort and Hera to bring them to UK stages for very first time, over 300 years after they were written. In 2023, we presented ‘Judith’, ‘Jacob & Rachel’ and ‘Susanne’: three stories about sex and power in encounters between men and women, in atmospheric, accessible settings across the UK.

Each cantata tells a story from the Old Testament, with recitative and 3 or 4 short arias. In each piece the singer, like all the best storytellers, moves between telling us a tale, and taking on the voice and perspective of the different characters: girls, women, husbands, fathers, Kings. Full of character, story and emotion, they are baroque operas but smaller, using only beguiling music and the skill of the performer to draw us in. They had never been presented by an opera company before, and we were delighted to develop them for the stage in new English translations by Toria Banks.

The cantatas were performed by a stellar cast - Carolyn Sampson, Anna Dennis and Alys Roberts, accompanied by the renowned players of the Dunedin Consort and directed by Mathilde López, Artistic Director of August 012. Mathilde, Alys and harpsichordist Katarzyna Kowalik were selected for this project through a highly competitive open call process, completing our exceptional team.