Vocal Heroes choir project: “The Two Fiddlers”

Peter Maxwell Davies’s children’s opera The Two Fiddlers is based on an ancient legend from the Orkney Islands yet has a very contemporary message: Two fiddlers, Gavin and Storm, fall into the clutches of goblins while returning from a wedding. Gavin manages to escape, but Storm is pulled down into the depths of the underworld where he has to play for the trolls. As thanks, the goblins grant the fiddler a wish. Storm’s wish is that his people no longer have to work. A basically noble suggestion – but it is not without its drawbacks!

When the violinist returns to his people, he discovers that he was in the goblin world for much longer than he thought: what seemed to him a single night turns out to have been 21 years. When he meets up again with his friend Gavin, who is now rich and has a family, Storm sees the unfortunate consequences of his ambiguous wish: People have become lazy. They watch television, listen to pop music and don’t know what to do with themselves. The fiddler plays a new melody to break the spell and to give the people back their creativity. To celebrate the happy conclusion to the tale, a haggis – a traditional Scottish dish – is brought in to the sounds of joyous music.

The choir project of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Education Programme brings together professional musicians and amateurs: Under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle, musicians of the orchestra perform alongside young instrumentalists and the Vocal Hero project choir which consists of children, teenagers and adults. The choirmaster is Simon Halsey.

Sir Simon Rattle

Berliner Philharmoniker and pupils

Vocal Heroes