Hastings composer Keith Beal presented the world premiere his new opera Merlin at St Mary In The Castle in Hastings. Merlin was performed by Ensemble Orquestra and Hastings Philharmonic on Saturday October 27.

In Keith’s opera Merlin is a 2,000 years old dysfunctional legendary magician and Nimue a poor young Welsh girl on the make. He has spent his life trying to do good for mankind, but everything has gone wrong. There follows a story of sexual awakening, intrigue, incest, failed magic and war based loosely on some of the many legends of Merlin from England, Wales and other parts of Europe.

A tragic ending allows Nimue as the ‘Lady of the Lake’ to join Merlin in the ether. Counter-intuitively, the baritone, Merlin, got the girl!   >>>