Call of Duty 使命召喚

Inspired by Guarini’s Il Pastor Fido (1590), The Call of Duty focuses on Anna whose parents expect her to marry Sam. She, however, dreams of becoming a teacher and wants to be the first in her family to go to university. Tension builds within Anna and she thinks her plans are at an end. Will Anna listen to her friend Nadia’s advice? Can she find a solution and how will her parents and Sam, her intended, react? Hilary Robinson based her libretto on research into the work of the probation service who try to help people overcome the problems which may have resulted in them offending.

For the opening scene of this chamber opera — The Call of Duty — Jingyu Chen chose to score a guitar with female spoken voice before bringing the characters into the story.

Jingyu has used different instruments to represent each character. For example, the clarinet represents Anna and the trumpet, Sam. The final scene of The Call of Duty echoes the opera’s opening scene with all characters expressing what is on their minds but here, at last, we see Anna able to speak her mind and she appears to be more hopeful about her future. The opera ends with the focus on Nadia and Sam and we are left to ponder what the future holds for them and for the rest of the characters.