Midsummer Opera presents Verdi's Un ballo in maschera this weekend in semi-staged concert performances at St John's Church, Waterloo on Friday 20 November 2015 and Sunday 22 November. The cast includes John Upperton as Riccardo, Jane Streeton as Amelia, Andrew Mayor as Renato, and Joanna Gamble as Ulrica, with David Roblou conducting the Midsummer Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
Based on the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden, Verdi's opera suffered from problems with the censors and Verdi's original intention to have the piece set in Sweden with the title character being Gustavo was prevented and the work was premiered with the title role now Riccardo, Governor of Boston. Ultimately though, the work's location matters a lot less than Verdi's brilliant handling of the conflicts between love and duty.
And of course, the opera is in fact entirely a-historical, as King Gustav III was in fact assassinated by a group of aristocrats opposed to his increasingly autocratic rule. And the real Gustav would have been unlikely to have had an affair with his best friends wife as he was thought to have been predominantly homosexual.
Further information and tickets from WeGotTickets.com
Tuesday 17 November 2015
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Septura I first became aware of the brass septet, Septura , when noting their 2017/18 concert series Kleptomania at St John's Smith...
-
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos - title page Six Concerts avec plusieurs instruments: Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann; London Handel Players, director ...
-
Retrospect Opera's recording of Stanford's Shamus O'Brien in rehearsal Charles Villiers Stanford’s opera Shamus O'Brien pre...
-
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progess - Act Three, scene one: the graveyard Frederick Jones, Jerome Knox - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Ric...
-
Rediscovering her Polish musical roots: Jennifer Pike on the personal connections in her latest discJennifer Pike (Photo Arno) With her latest recording, violinist Jennifer Pike has been rediscovering her Polish roots. The Polish Violi...
-
Poster for the première of Léo Delibes' Lakmé Léo Delibes: Lakmé; Haegee Lee, Elgan Llŷr Thomas, James Platt, Julien Van Mellaerts,...
-
Stephen McNeff: A Star Next to the Moon - Jacob Harrison (Pedro Páramo) - Guildhall School of Music & Drama (Photo: David Monteith-Hodg...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
The Afghan Youth Orchestra On Thursday 7 March 2024, the Afghan Youth Orchestra makes its debut at the Southbank Centre at the start of its ...
-
Jonathan Dove: The Enchanted Pig - Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 2023 (Photo Greg Milner) On Monday 29 February 2024, the Royal Birmingha...
No comments:
Post a Comment