O'Regan

Paul [Webber, Time For Rupert's trainer] uses a few jockeys, there's myself and Dominic [Elsworth] and Denis O'Regan, Kennedy said as he waited for three rides at Fontwell on Wednesday.

Journeyman jockey Will Kennedy will step into spotlight at Cheltenham 2011

Composer Tarik O'Regan is taking his first crack at opera with this production.

Pilgrimage Into a Dark Night of the Soul Jeanne Whalen 2011

A year later, in conversation with his friend and librettist, the artist, composer, and writer Tom Phillips, O'Regan's opera was born.

Off the map: Heart of Darkness gets the opera treatment 2011

"But then, the terrible aspect of postcolonial experience was what happened when the white colonial rule was removed and the new black leaders took over the worst sides of colonial power," says O'Regan.

Off the map: Heart of Darkness gets the opera treatment 2011

"There's no clean version of the story," O'Regan says.

Off the map: Heart of Darkness gets the opera treatment 2011

O'Regan could have gone for a crude musical characterisation of Conrad's tale, making the most of the difference between the Thames and the Congo; between the colonial Europeans and the Africans.

Off the map: Heart of Darkness gets the opera treatment 2011

What was most interesting for me was the nature of storytelling, O'Regan says.

Off the map: Heart of Darkness gets the opera treatment 2011

"One of my favourite lines in the book is when Marlow says, 'It seemed to me as if I was also buried in a vast grave full of unspeakable secrets,'" says O'Regan.

Off the map: Heart of Darkness gets the opera treatment 2011

It plays for about 75 minutes, and O'Regan uses an ensemble of 14 players.

Off the map: Heart of Darkness gets the opera treatment 2011

It's in that secret that the dark heart of O'Regan's opera lies.

Off the map: Heart of Darkness gets the opera treatment 2011