The Song Company: Circle Of Virtue (Newcastle)

One of the earliest-named composers in Western musical history and outspoken in her dealings with princes and popes in mediaeval Europe, Abbess Hildegard of Bingen created the earliest-known opera or music drama, Ordo Virtutum, for the female inmates of her Abbey at Rupertsberg. The Song Company presents a semi-staged performance – directed by Leonie Cambage – of Hildegard’s story of the internal struggle of a Soul battling for her mental well-being with seventeen Virtues on one side and the Devil on the other... A dramatic presentation of the earliest surviving music drama, Ordo Virtutum, by 12th-century Abbess, visionary, and natural philosopher, Hildegard of Bingen

Education Partner: Santa Sabina College (P-12), Strathfield

Roberta Diamond – Anima
Pip Dracakis – Chastity
Josie Ryan – Victory
Jessica O'Donoghue – Humility, Queen of the Virtues
Janine Harris – Hope
Ethan Taylor – Prophet
Hayden Barrington – Patriarch
Koen van Stade – The Devil
Ruby Bron, Iris Farrer, Annie Farrer – Chorus of Souls (Artistic Director P-12 Santa Sabina College: Timothy Chung)
Antony Pitts – Instruments & Musical Direction

Neil Simpson – Lighting Consultant
Pip Dracakis – Costume Co-Designer
Sue Carveth – Costume maker (Prophets)
Wendy Walker – Props Designer/Maker (sceptre and crowns)
Leonie Cambage – Director

Portative Organ (made by Ron Sharp) – courtesy of Santa Sabina College