Mahogany Opera And Their Ecstasy Of The Virtues

It would be wrong of me to call the 10th century German Benedictine abbess, Hildegard of Bingen, a freak of nature: that's for much better informed parties to decide. But this lady, described, variously, as a mystic, visionary, composer, philosopher and writer of medical texts was undoubtedly more 'ethereal' than the average nun in the street. Even during the strange days of the early Middle Ages she must have been considered a one-off.

Hildegard was born around 1098 and was a sickly 10th child of lower nobility parents and was said to have experienced 'visions' from a very young age. Probably because of these visions, her parents offered her as an oblate to a local Benedictine monastery. And that, as we say these days, must have been a weight off.

This remarkable child eventually became one of the founders of the science called natural history and has now become one of the most recorded musicians in modern history.

We’re thrilled to be bringing this extraordinary piece to the stage, having supported its development and diverse iterations since 2020. This production, which unveils the singular artistry of a 12th century abbess through the revelatory perspective of Nwando’s neurodivergent Afrofuturist lens, chimes beautifully with Mahogany's philosophy of taking inspiration from the past to create distinctive and inclusive new encounters with opera today.Bridget Rennie, Executive Producer & Executive Director of Mahogany OperaSwitching to the present day, a full eleven centuries later, and this extraordinary lady has become the subject of a brand new opera called Ecstasy Of The Virtues, seen here at the Howard Assembly Rooms in Leeds. Created by the self-described 'Neurodivergent Afrofuturist', Nwando Ebizie, this opera expresses the strange other-worldliness of Hildegard with a multisensory performance featuring all the tropes of an evangelical religious festival (smells, bells, and so on...).

The production is loosely based on Hildegard’s allegorical morality / mystery play Ordo Virtutum and features 12 performers including deaf performance artist Chisato Minamimura, composer and vocalist Laura Bowler, Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian, Grace Nyandoro, Sara Amini, and Yfat Soul Zisso, with Chisara Agor, Jadyn Arriola Bagayas, Yu Chinen, Michelle Cornelius, Fliss Jackson, Maria da Luz Ghoumrassi as The Oracle.

Ordo Virtutum is a tale about the struggle for a human soul between the Virtues and the Devil and this production features Chisato Minamimura & Grace Nyandoro as Self-Loathing and Sara Amini as The Soul.

The many and disparate Virtues are played by Laura Bowler (Love, Potential, Belief in Humanity, Mercy), Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian (Endurance, Groundedness, Clarity, Humility), Grace Nyandoro (Wonder of the Universe, Transcendence, Self Protection, Victory) and Yfat Soul Zisso (Dedication to the Truth, Hope). These Virtues were seen as role models for the women of Hildegard's Abbey, who were supposed to take joy in overcoming their weaknesses and defeating the Devil in their own lives. Sounds a little joy-less to me.

The whole piece is wrapped in a warm acoustic blanket of field recordings and custom synthesizer sounds created by technical director Tom Richards. An on-stage harp and choral textures from a Bulgarian choir were blended with traditional folk music to create a strong sense of unease and mysticism.

There's some fine singing here too, and there's constant movement to keep the audience engaged. The 12-strong cast and the technical crew succeed in blending live opera with (my personal favourite) theatrical BSL into a unified, welcoming performance.

Nwando Ebizie has chosen a difficult subject for this opera: the words of Hildegard of Bingen can be rather abstract and lacking in a clear narrative, but using a combination of all the sensory inputs the cast does a fine job of steering us through the wild imaginings of the late abbess.

The production moves next to Barrow Town Hall on 7th October, 2026.

More information about the production company behind this opera, and their many other projects, can be found here: https://www.mahoganyopera.co.uk/