(File Photo/Joel Fildes) "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" production is the largest orchestral commission of 2007 – featuring a full evening concert work for The Hallé, narrator Alan Rickman and singers James McOran Campbell and Loré Lixenberg conducted by Mark Elder and performed to a specially commissioned silent film from internationally acclaimed director Mike Figgis.
World Premiere of the UK’s Largest Orchestral Commission of 2007
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JULY 03, 2007
By Press Release, Manchester International Festival

Manchester International Festival has commissioned Russian composer Victoria Borisova-Ollas to create a major new orchestral commission, based on Salman Rushdie’s epic novel The Ground Beneath Her Feet.
The production is the largest orchestral commission of 2007 – featuring a full evening concert work for The Hallé, narrator Alan Rickman and singers James McOran Campbell and Loré Lixenberg conducted by Mark Elder and performed to a specially commissioned silent film from internationally acclaimed director Mike Figgis.
Premiering on the opening weekend of the Festival, The Ground Beneath Her Feet takes the themes of Rushdie’s work and creates an epic manifestation of what has been described as ‘first great rock n’ roll novel of the 21st century’ with a libretto by Edward Kemp.
THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET
• Composer: Victoria Bosirova-Ollas
• Conductor: Mark Elder
• Director: Mike Figgis
• Narrator: Alan Rickman
• Orchestra: The Hallé Orchestra
• Librettist: Edward Kemp
• Singers: James McOran-Campbell and Loré Lixenberg
Inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Rushdie’s story of the power of love presents an alternative history of the last fifty years of music. Supernaturally gifted Ormus Carma meets half-Indian, half-Greek Vina Aspara in a Bombay record store and they embark on an all-consuming and ultimately destructive passion that fuels the greatest musical collaboration in rock music. Rai Merchant, a world-famous photographer, narrates the story of the love which transcends time and binds the three protagonists beyond continents, and even death.
“Our hope is to create a substantial new piece of concert hall repertoire for our time,” comments Festival Director Alex Poots. “Commissioning large-scale works is always a risky business but a risk that should be embraced if the pursuit of rejuvenating the classical canon is to be taken seriously.”
Bridegwater Hall
www.manchesterinternationalfestival.com
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Mark Elder
Mark Elder was Music Director of English National Opera between 1979 and 1993, and in September 2000 he became Music Director of The Hallé. He has also held positions as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Mozart Players. He works regularly with many of the world's leading symphony orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and the NDR in Hamburg, and, in the UK, enjoys close associations with both the London Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Mike Figgis
After being turned down by the National Film School, Figgis caught the eye of Channel Four, who financed his 60-minute TV movie, The House (1984). Figgis made his feature directorial and screenwriting debut with Stormy Monday (1988). He earned probably his greatest recognition thus for his direction of Richard Gere and Andy Garcia in the police corruption thriller Internal Affairs (1990). Figgis' most audacious and ambitious project was Time Code (2000), shot in a single day without a script and using four digital cameras. In 1995 he received Academy Award nominations for Best Directing and Best Screenplay for Leaving Las Vegas.
Edward Kemp
Edward Kemp trained with the National Youth Theatre and read English Language and Literature at New College Oxford. He is a freelance writer and director who has previously worked at the National Youth theatre and the Royal National Theatre. He has taught both theatre and creative writing on both sides of the Atlantic, including at the Guildhall and Central Drama Schools, Trinity College of Music and the Royal College of Art, and for the National Theatre, Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne Education Departments.
Victoria Borisova-Ollas
Originally from Russia, Victoria has lived in Sweden for many years. She first achieved international recognition when she won second place in the Masterprize competition in 1998. Her 14 minute orchestral work The Kingdom of Silence, which was given its world premiere in 2003 by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra is well on its way to becoming established in concert halls around the world.
The Manchester International Festival – the world’s first international festival of original, new work – takes place for the first time from 28 June – 15 July 2007, and thereafter every two years. The idea to launch an international festival was first conceived by Manchester City Council, who appointed Alex Poots to create a unique festival for Manchester.