Riders to the Sea - 3 & 4 October 2025
A masterful opera - powerful, moving, soulful, and unforgettable…
Toi Toi Opera with the support of the Vaughan Williams Foundation UK, proudly presents ‘Riders to the Sea’.
Allow yourself to be swept away by the haunting beauty of Vaughan Williams’ tragic opera based on the J. M. Synge play, reimagined for Aotearoa New Zealand in an immersive new production, incorporating the music of Dame Gillian Whitehead, David Hamilton, & John Ireland.
We are delighted to welcome back Sara Brodie (Director) & Mark Hodgkinson (Conductor) to the company to spearhead this extraordinarily special season, featuring a stellar all-local cast, chorus, musical, and creative team.
Margot Button stars as Maurya, with Erin Connelly-Whyte as Cathleen, Matilda Wickbom as Nora, and Alex Robinson as Bartley. Featuring soprano Holly Evans, and Mahina-Ina Kingi-Kaui on Taonga Pūoro.
A semi-staged production, with chamber orchestra accompaniment, taking to the stage of The Piano, Christchurch from 3-4 October, 2025.
Venue: The Philip Carter Family Concert Hall, The Piano: Centre for Music and the Arts, 156 Armagh Street, Christchurch Duration: 60 minutes, no interval.
Tickets: From $50 to $65The Opera
Before the opera begins: Maurya, an elderly Irishwoman of the Aran Islands, has lost her husband, father-in-law, and four of her six sons at sea.
While she is sleeping, Maurya's daughters Cathleen and Nora receive word that a body that may be their brother Michael, Maurya's fifth son, has washed up on shore in Donegal, far to the north. Maurya’s sixth and last son, Bartley, is planning to go to the Galway fair to sell horses - but she is fearful of the sea winds and pleads with him to stay - however he insists on going, and will ride ‘on the red mare with the grey pony behind him’. Maurya predicts that by nightfall she will have no living sons.
Both daughters chide their mother for sending Bartley off with an ill word, and so Maurya goes after Bartley to bless his voyage. While she is gone, Nora and Cathleen unwrap clothing from the drowned corpse that confirms it as Michael. Maurya returns home, claiming to have seen the ghost of Michael riding behind Bartley, and begins lamenting the loss of the men in her family to the sea.
Nora then sees villagers carrying a load, which turns out to be the corpse of Bartley, who has fallen off his horse into the sea and drowned. Maurya laments ‘They are all gone now, and there isn't anything more the sea can do to me.’
Principal Cast
Alex also performs When I am Dead, My Dearest by John Ireland (text from the poem by Christina Rossetti).
Covers: Louisa Pilkington (Maurya), Katherine Doig (Cathleen), Anna Engelbrecht (Nora), Nigel Withington (Bartley)Featuring
Performing Nau mai e te ao mārama by Dame Gillian Whitehead. Tungia Baker wrote the text, called Tuhituhi, for a celebration of the story of Waitaha’s prophet Te Maiharoa, who led a hikoi up the Waitaki River; Naumai e te ao marama is a song (or aria) from this work - it is sometimes referred to as ‘the Waitaha aria’.
Comprimario Cast & Chorus
Keening Women
Ghosts
The chorus also performs Roll Down by Peter Bellamy, and The Moon is Distant from the Sea by David Hamilton - a setting of a short poem by American poet Emily Dickinson.
Maestro & Musicians
Toi Toi Opera Orchestra
Sarah Coulter - flute
Malcolm McCulloch - oboe
Sue Bealing - clarinet
H Bloomer-Law - bass clarinet
Jono Tresslor - timpani / percussion
Michael Lawrence - organ
Anria Breytenbach - cover répétiteur
Production Team
Sean Hawkins - Lighting Designer/Operator
Please Consider Making a Donation
Toi Toi Opera is a charitable trust, run by three volunteer directors donating their services free of charge, and striving towards providing fair pay for all of the artists involved in our casts, musical and creative teams, and technical crews.
Your donations are critical to helping us to enable more Cantabrians to experience the thrill of live opera. Our donee organisation status with Inland Revenue means that individuals may be able to claim a 33.33% tax credit for donations over $5.
Thank you for helping to nurture your local operatic artists.
This orchestral reduction of Ralph Vaughan Williams' 'Riders to the Sea' by William Buffham © Toi Toi Opera 2025.