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.

Autobiographical note at the London Lunch 2013
I have avoided doing this job for many years, but I made that terrible mistake last year of saying to Eileen, “I’ll think about it”. Absolutely fatal; so here I am! Very reluctant to speak and ‘unaccustomed as I am to public speaking’, I went round and asked other friends, who have done it, and they said I had to think of a lot of jokes, as “that might keep them awake”. I’m not very good at jokes. I can’t remember which philosopher said that an optimist sees life as a tragedy and a pessimist sees life as a comedy.

Born on 22 December 1933 in Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire, Keith Francis Arnold Beal grew up in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. After the Second World War, he was sent to Sweden in 1948 to gain strength, staying there for the better part of a year. His formative years were spent in NW London, where he went to school, and Hamstead, where he explored his interest in painting.

In 1955 Beal spent a year in Paris, aiming to develop his painting skills. On returning to England he found quick success, having an exhibition in a gallery in Bond Street and selling out on the day.