I am a dramaturg.

 
This is an odd word, which needs some explanation. It means somebody who works in a theatre or opera house, with responsibility for words: plays, librettos, programme notes, translations, talks, research, all that kind of thing. ‘Dramaturg’ or 'Dramaturgy' comes from two Greek words, ‘drama’ meaning drama, and ‘ourgos’ meaning ‘work’. Other words built in the same way include ‘George’, a farmer or earth-worker (gea + ourgos); while a surgeon (in older English ‘chirurgeon’) is a ‘cheiros’ + ‘ourgos’ or hand worker.
 
I have worked as a dramaturg since 1989, until recently for the Welsh National Opera - WNO, based at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. The amount of time I have spent in the dramaturgy role could be considered as even longer if you count my spell of work at Festival Opera Barga, in Tuscany in 1980, when I produced the programme and ran up and down hill with boxes of music stands, and put out chairs for concerts in the town square. For 23 years I was dramaturg at Welsh National Opera, and since leaving the company in 2012 I have set myself up as a freelance dramaturg.
 Dramaturg
 
As a dramaturg I translate surtitles (or prepare English surtitles for operas sung in English) both for opera and for spoken theatre. I use various different surtitling systems, including Naotek, Focon, PowerPoint, Polycomp and a number of others. Most of these work by connecting a laptop computer to a screen, so that the operator can cue the surtitles from the computer and send the right text to the screen at the right moment. Split-second timing is crucial, or the laughs come in the wrong places. I also write programme notes for operas and concerts, give lectures and talks (at every level) on opera and theatre, and do any research that directors or producers might require. 
 
In continental Europe, and especially in the German-speaking countries, the dramaturg is an important figure in a theatre or opera house. In Britain the dramaturg has yet to establish a permanent role – but I’m working on it!
 

 

 

Simon Rees

 

Simon Rees

Dramaturg, Opera Tour Guide, Surtitle Producer, Lecturer and Author

Mob: +44 (0) 7816 662 350

Email:  simon.rees@dramaturg.co.uk

 

Opera Surtitles for hire by Opera Companies worldwide.

As a dramaturg I translate surtitles (or prepare English surtitles for operas sung in English) both for opera and for spoken theatre. I use various different surtitling systems, including Naotek, Focon, PowerPoint, Polycomp and a number of others. Most of these work by connecting a laptop computer to a screen, so that the operator can cue the surtitles from the computer and send the right text to the screen at the right moment. Split-second timing is crucial, or the laughs come in the wrong places. I also write programme notes for operas and concerts, give lectures and talks (at every level) on opera and theatre, and do any research that directors or producers might require.

All surtitles below are © Simon Rees (or © Yoko Kawaguchi where indicated).

I am always willing to undertake new surtitling projects on behalf of Opera Houses.

 

Wales Millennium Centre

List of Opera Surtitles Currently available.

Bach
  • St Matthew Passion
Bartók
  • Bluebeard’s Castle
Berg
  • Wozzeck
  • Lulu (in preparation)
Beethoven
  • Fidelio
  • Leonore 
Bizet
  • Carmen (spoken dialogue)
  • Carmen (recitative)
  • Les pecheurs des perles

Cilea

  • Adriana Lecouvreur (trans. Yoko Kawaguchi)
  • L’arlesiana
Carvalho
  • L’amore industrioso
Donizetti
  • L’elisir d’amore
  • Lucia di Lammermoor
  • Lucrezia Borgia 
  • Maria di Rohan (trans. Yoko Kawaguchi)
Gluck
  • Iphigénie en Tauride
  • Orphée et Eurydice 
Handel
  • Ariodante
  • Jephtha
  • Tamerlano
Haydn
  • The Creation
Humperdinck
  • Hansel and Gretel
Janáček
  • Jenůfa
  • Katya Kabanova 
Leoncavallo
  • Pagliacci
Mascagni
  • Cavalleria rusticana
  • Iris 

Massenet

  • Manon
  • Werther (trans. Yoko Kawaguchi)
Monteverdi
  • Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria
  • L’incoronazione di Poppea
Mozart
  • Die Entführung aus dem Serail
  • Così fan tutte
  • Don Giovanni
  • Idomeneo
  • La clemenza di Tito
  • Le nozze di Figaro
  • Die Zauberflöte
Poulenc
  • La voix humaine
  • Dialogues des Carmelites
Prokofiev
  • The Tsar’s Bride
Puccini
  • La bohème
  • Madama Butterfly
  • Manon Lescaut
  • La rondine (trans. Yoko Kawaguchi)
  • Suor Angelica (trans. Yoko Kawaguchi)
  • Tosca
  • Turandot
Rossini
  • Il barbiere di Siviglia
  • La Cenerentola
  • Il turco in Italia
Strauss J
  • Die Fledermaus
Strauss R
  • Der Rosenkavalier
  • Salome 
  • Ariadne auf Naxos
Tchaikovsky
  • Eugene Onegin
  • Iolanta
  • Mazepa
  • The Queen of Spades
Verdi
  • Aida
  • Un ballo in maschera 
  • Don Carlos
  • Falstaff
  • Macbeth
  • Nabucco 
  • Otello
  • Rigoletto
  • Simon Boccanegra
  • Stiffelio
  • La traviata 
  • Il trovatore 
Wagner
  • Der fliegende Holländer
  • Parsifal
  • The Ring Cycle
  • Das Rheingold
  • Die Walküre
  • Siegfried
  • Götterdämmerung
  • Die Meistersinger
  • Tristan und Isolde
  • Lohengrin (in preparation)
Walton
  • Belshazzar’s Feast

 

LIST OF SURTITLE HIRE CLIENTS

Welsh National Opera, Cardiff
Wales Millennium Centre
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
Scottish Opera, Glasgow
Edinburgh International Festival
Opera North, Leeds
Buxton Festival, Buxton
Dorset Opera, Dorset
Ellen Kent Opera, London
Raymond Gubbay at Royal Albert Hall, London
Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Halle Concerts Society
The Sage, Gateshead
New Chamber Opera
Holland Park Opera
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff
Scottish Conservatoire, Glasgow
Wide Open Opera, Dublin
Everyman Theatre, Cork
Opera 2005, Cork
Al Bustan Festival, Beirut
Houston Grand Opera, Houston
Minnesota Opera, Minnesota
Milwaukee Opera, Milwaukee
Seattle Opera, Seattle
Portland Opera
Boston Lyric Opera
Canadian Opera, Toronto
Norwegian Opera & Ballet
The NBR New Zealand Opera

Please email simon.rees@dramaturg.co.uk for further information.
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