Few people have studied or worked in so many aspects of opera as Paul Carr. A one-time vocal student at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, he also took a course in theatre and lighting design, then spent the bulk of his career – some 35 years in all – in stage management.

More recently came a move into stage direction: in the last year or two engagements have included working on shows for Dorset Opera (Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, The Magic Flute), the Nederlandse Reisopera in Holland (Powder Her Face) and at the historic Teatru Manoel in Valletta (Rossini’s Armida). During much of this time, too, Carr has composed, prolifically and successfully: choral works especially, but also orchestral and chamber pieces.

This summer there’s a new departure: his first opera will be staged (by him, of course) at Dorset Opera’s annual festival held at Bryanston School: it was commissioned by the company’s artistic director, former leading bass Roderick Kennedy, to celebrate the festival’s 60th anniversary season. Appropriately, the subject Carr picked is a Dorset one, taken from one of Thomas Hardy’s most popular Wessex novels, Under the Greenwood Tree.

Carr has been a regular member of the creative team at Dorset Opera since 2011. How did this relationship come about? Roderick Kennedy explains: ‘Paul first came to Dorset Opera in 2011 as a stage manager. One of the ‘first-time’ directors was having difficulties with their production, so Paul simply took over and helped the person through the whole process. I was so impressed that the following year I invited him to direct his own double-bill of Suor Angelica and the British stage premiere of Lord Berners’ Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement. The Puccini was so poignant that I sobbed my heart out at every performance. He knew exactly what to do and how to tug at an audience’s heartstrings!’

After this initial success, Carr goes on, ‘Rod just kept saying, “You’ve got to come back”. Then Dorset’s chorus master Nicholas Mansfield and I did a Flying Dutchman at Dorset, after which Nicholas said, “You’ve got to come to the Netherlands. I want you to do a new Flying Dutchman”. So I did’ – and a new career was launched.

Carr comes from Cornwall, where he was born in 1961. His mother was the Australian soprano Una Hale, who enjoyed an appreciable career at Covent Garden, where his father worked as a stage manager.

As a child he learned the piano and the bassoon and at the age of 15 started composing. ‘I just sat down at the piano and started writing this piece, and I thought, “This could be quite good,” so I played it to my piano teacher, and he said, “I think you should play this at the school concert.” So I did, and they liked it so much I had to play it again!’ In the field of composition Carr is entirely self-taught.

Meanwhile, when singing didn’t work out for him at the Guildhall, he tried to move to the acting course but was told he would have to wait a year to undertake it. ‘I was too impatient. English National Opera were advertising for an assistant stage manager, so I went there in 1983’. He subsequently worked with Australian Opera, the Israeli Opera, Raymond Gubbay, Glyndebourne and Garsington. Six years ago – by which time directing had opened up a new career for him – he finally gave up stage management. So in fact, there have been two sides to Paul Carr in recent years. One is his opera directing, and the other his composition. This year, for the first time, they come together.

Carr describes his own music as influenced by British and American composers, especially from the 20th century; but in recent years, he says, ‘I’ve gone back to the Baroque. In fact there is a Bach jig in Under the Greenwood Tree.’

How did this first opera come about? ‘The initial request for a new work for Dorset Opera came 10 years ago, when it was the festival’s 40th anniversary. After looking at a subject and finding the rights too expensive to pursue, I turned it down.’

‘But then last year, when Rod said, “It’s our 50th, I’m going to ask you again,” I went down and had meeting with him and I said, “Do you know what? I can do it now, because if I don’t do it now, I’m never going to do it.’

Carr explained that he didn’t want to do anything dramatic, heavy, or dark, ‘because in this awful age that we are going through, I wanted something optimistic and passionate and enjoyable. And it sounds very flippant, but I’ve always thought that Under the Greenwood Tree would make a wonderful title for an opera.’

So, he located the book and started to read it and also watched the film – ‘In a way my opera is more closely linked to the film than the book’. Hardy’s novel tells a characteristically rural tale about how the arrival of new schoolmistress Fancy Day throws the village of Mellstock into turmoil when no fewer than three men propose to her; moreover, her newly developed skills at the harmonium put the church’s ancient instrumental band’s future into doubt.

What about the libretto? ‘It’s a kind of collaboration with my friend the poet Euan Tait – whose texts I’ve set previously – so there’s a little bit of me and quite a lot of Euan. I’ve also used some of Hardy’s original text. There’s a cast of nine, with just two female singers. ‘All of them have been in other productions of mine at Dorset. There’s a substantial role for the chorus, which is essential for the company, and I’ve used a full symphony orchestra.’

Over the course of two acts totalling just under two hours of music, the narrative travels through the four seasons. ‘Funnily enough, this will be my third work in succession based on the four seasons: in fact, I quote from both Vivaldi and myself in a choral and orchestral piece of mine called Four New Seasons. I think that’s important because we live by the seasons.’

What would he like audiences to know before they come to the show? ‘Of course it’s a period-piece, a kind of Victorian rom-com. I’d like audiences to come out and think, “Love is alive,” or “I’m young and I’m in love,” or “How wonderful it was to be young and in love!”.’ 

Under the Greenwood Tree by Paul Carr is at Dorset Opera Festival on 23, 25 and 27 July 2024: www.dorsetopera.com

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of Opera Now. Never miss an issue – subscribe today