Name: David Fennessy’s 'Conquest of the Useless'
Start: 2023-11-04T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2023-11-04T00:00:00.000Z
Location: City Halls

Organization

Admin

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Instrumentalist

Guitarist

David Fennessy

Electric Guitar

Singer

Mezzo-soprano

Jennifer Johnston

Mezzo soprano

Conductor

Jack Sheen

Orchestra

Actor

Brian Ferguson

David Fennessy’s 'Conquest of the Useless'

Glasgow

United Kingdom

City Halls

David Fennessy’s 'Conquest of the Useless': The Conqeust of the Useless Fennessy

Public

The Conqeust of the Useless

Pallavi Pawar

Approved

Accordionist

Archlutenist

Baroque Flutist

Baroque Oboist

Baroque Trumpetist

Bassist

Bassoonist

Cellist

Clarinetist

Contrabassist

Cornettist

Flutist

Harper

Harpsichordist

Hornist

Lutenist

Mandoline Player

Musette de cour Player

Oboist

Organist

Percussionist

Pianist

Recorder Player

Saxophonist

Tenor Violinist

Timpani

Trombonist

Trumpeter

Tuba Player

Vibraphonist

Viola Pomposa Player

Viola da gamba

Viola d’amore Player

Violinist

Violino Piccolo Player

Violist

Broadcasting

Chefdirigent Musiktheater

Choir

Choreographer

Chorus Director

Chorus master

Composer

Costume designer

Dancer

Dramaturge

Executive producer

Extra

Hairstylist

Illustrator

Librettist

Lighting designer

Makeup artist

Orchestra Operations

Other

Photographer

Poet

Repetiteur

Set designer

Sound designer

Stage Manager

Stage director

Teacher

Translator

Video designer

Vocal coach

Wig & Makeup Designer

Writer

Writing and performance

Bass

Contralto

Bass-baritone

Countertenor

Tenor

Soprano

Baritone

Alto

Child vocalist

Continuo

Silent

Spoken

In the early 1980s the German film director Werner Herzog kept a diary of his struggle to make his film Fitzcarraldo in the Amazon. Entitled Conquest of the Useless, its descriptions of nature and Herzog’s day-today battle inspired composer David Fennessy to create an epic threepart work that touches on madness, ambition, Verdi, belief, Enrico Caruso, musical Romanticism and the teeming, chaotic brutality of the jungle.

Fennessy’s Conquest of the Useless moves from an orchestral depiction of Herzog’s original vision – “a large steamship scaling a hill under its own steam” – though a four-part choir made up of samples from Caruso’s recordings, to a finale once described by the composer as “Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde put through a blender.”

Part-premiered by the BBC SSO at Glasgow’s first Tectonics festival in 2013, the completed work returns to City Halls for a performance preceded by a discussion with the composer and a screening of Les Blank’s 1982 documentary of the Fitzcarraldo shoot, Burden of Dreams (Cert. 15).

5.30pm Screening of 'Burden of Dreams' (Location: Old Fruitmarket)
7.15pm Herzog’s legacy – A panel discussion, including David Fennessy
8.00pm Conquest of the Useless (Location: City Halls Auditorium)

English

David Fennessy’s 'Conquest of the Useless' by Fennessy, Sat 04 Nov 2023, From (2023/2023), Conductor Jack Sheen, City Halls, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Instrumentation

Crew

Ensemble

Programme, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues