Delius - Koanga

A rarely performed opera set in America, by an English composer who lived in France.

An opera? By Delius? They might not be his most famous works, but the English composer actually wrote a number of operas including Fennimore and Gerda, and his better known masterpiece, A Village Romeo and Juliet, which features the popular interlude, 'A Walk to the Paradise Garden'.

Koanga, written between 1896 and 1897, is one of the first European operas to be based on musical material from African-American music.

It tells the tale of Koanga, an African Prince and Voodoo Priest, living on a Mississippi River plantation in Louisiana. Anyone expecting the lush strains of the British countryside so often embodied in Delius' music might be forced to think again: look out for dark magic, slavery, and tragedy in this most unusual composition.