As part of their Out of the Archives commission, Eileen Simpson and Ben White from the Open Music Archive will be recreating, or reimagining The Brilliant and the Dark – a cantata for women’s voices. As part of their research, the pair have been looking through the costumes originally worn by the performers in the 1969 Royal Albert Hall production. From early Christian imagery to multi-coloured cloaks, the costumes played a very important role in creating the host of female characters featured in the opera.
These costumes are part of The Women’s Library’s permanent collection. To see what other archive material we have on The Brilliant and the Darki you can search the catalogue here
