Oryx and Crake: Creating a vocal score

Oryx and Crake is an opera by German/Danish composer Søren Nils Eichberg, based on Margaret Atwood’s novel. Music publisher Edition Wilhelm Hansen required a reduction of the orchestral score into a piano-vocal score for rehearsals before the premiere at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

Creating the vocal score

The project involved transforming a complex orchestral score into a playable and practical piano score that included all necessary cues for the choir and soloists. The goal was a balance between density and sparseness in the piano score while accurately representing the full orchestration of the work. Opus and Palatino Linotype were used to create a high-quality, easy-to-read vocal score.

Throughout the project, close collaboration was maintained with Edition Wilhelm Hansen to ensure that the score reflected the composer’s musical intentions and the performers’ needs.