The seafront birthplace and childhood home of Benjamin Britten has been put on the market. The 10-bedroom commercial guesthouse in Lowestoft, Suffolk (21 Kirkley Cliff Road) is listed at £795,000. Each bedroom comes with its own en-suite, there are two reception rooms. The property is fully furnished. Rory Robertson, director of Hardimans Estate Agents in Lowestoft, said “I think the {…}
Professional artists and more than 300 amateur members of the Los Angeles musical community gather under the baton of James Conlon to present two free, family-friendly performances of Benjamin Britten’s “Noah’s Flood.” Professional vocal soloists including baritone Ben Lowe as Noah, mezzo-soprano Peabody Southwell as Mrs. Noah and bass-baritone Patrick Blackwell as the Voice of God. They are joined by {…}
Photo credit: Raftermen “Toi toi toi, y’all,” intones the attractive, Southern-inflected t-shirt at The Atlanta Opera’s pop-up gift shop. An apt tagline for a company having outgrown regional status, still honoring its roots in this de facto capital of the American South. Like Atlanta—now the sixth most populous metropolitan area in the United States, having recently edged past Philadelphia and {…}
Happy New Year! For the first edition of the year, we look at the first releases of 2024. This week we get a new album by a leading tenor and a remastering of a legendary recording conducted by the composer himself. Out of the Ashes Navona releases the USD Chamber Singers and Dr. David Holdhusen’s new album. The CD will {…}
(Photo Brno: Marek Olbryzmek) Britten’s “Peter Grimes” is a director’s dream. Who is Grimes? It is certain he is a loner; an outsider and a social misfit open to fits of temper. Yet there is also a sensitive side to his nature that comes out intermittently throughout the opera, notably in his aria “Now the Great Bear and the Pleiades” {…}
(Photo: ENO’s Peter Grimes 2023 © Tom Bowles) David Alden’s “Peter Grimes” begins with the curtain up. Upstage the people of the Borough mill about restlessly, occasionally breaking into shouts of anger and impatience. Alden’s 2009 production, on its second revival, breaks with any wistful or bucolic notions about the seaside community of the Borough, who drive the equally unrelenting {…}
Photo Credit: Kristen Loken Merola Opera Program presents Benjamin Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia” on July 13th and 15th at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, with director Jan Essinger, conductor Judith Yan, and a creative team including intimacy coordinator Maya Herbsman. Merola will also host a special conversational forum, post-performance on Saturday, July 15th with the creative team and {…}
Photo: © Glyndebourne Productions Ltd. Photo: Tristram Kenton Normally, ‘heritage’ productions make me nervous. The established stagings summon to mind lumbering Zeffirelli-esque spectacles and unwieldy, moth-eaten costumes. Opera houses resting on their artistic laurels, unwilling take artistic risks. The ingrained conservatism in the opera business that could even prove fatal for the art form. But, Peter Hall’s production of Benjamin {…}
Countertenor James M. Brown brought together a talented group of young artists to perform “A Ghost’s Endeavor,” a recital that included music from the Baroque to today. The performance was held in the Vino Theater in Brooklyn, New York. The building is a communal area that comprises several levels and a black box theater. From the outside, the nearly block-long {…}
The Los Angeles Opera has announced that it will present a concert showcase of Benjamin Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia” on Jan. 20, 2023. The opera will be conducted by Resident Conductor Lina González-Granados who will lead a performance headlined by singers from the company’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Saturnino will take on the lead role with baritone {…}
Britten Pears Arts has announced its Autumn 2022 season that includes “The Blue Woman,” a new opera by Laura Bowler and Laura Lomas, a new production of “The Rape of Lucretia,” and Britten song cycles performed by opera stars. Here’s the lineup. Composer Laura Bowler and librettist Laura Lomas’ new opera, “The Blue Woman,” explores the aftermath of sexual violence, {…}