In April 2019 a new opera with music by the composer Tarik O’Regan had its premiere at Houston Grand Opera. Called “The Phoenix”, it’s based on the life of Lorenzo Da Ponte, best known as Mozart’s librettist.

The opera has been years in the making, from Tarik’s first idea to the final rewrites. We follow Tarik through months of creating the music, the orchestrations and the workshop processes with his collaborator, the librettist and director John Caird.

From Tarik’s original base in the former Swaziland, now known as eSwatini, to meetings in London and rehearsals in Houston, we hear how the process of working on an opera is a global business and how the music evolves over a long period from first sketches to opening night.

This is an updated version of the podcast. We changed the ending because the next podcast will be with the opera star Danielle de Niese, rather than Iris Van Herpen. We’ll get to Iris soon.