May 30, 2015 7:30pm
Huntington Avenue Theater


LENNOX BERKELEY: FOUR POEMS OF ST. TERESA OF AVILA, OP. 27
For contralto and strings
BOSTON PREMIERE
RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT: OPHELIA
Cantata for countertenor and ensemble
BOSTON PREMIERE
BENJAMIN BRITTEN: PHAEDRA, OP. 93
Cantata for mezzo-soprano and orchestra
JUDITH WEIR: KING HARALD’S SAGA
Grand Opera in Three Acts for solo soprano
PETER MAXWELL DAVIES: EIGHT SONGS FOR A MAD KING, OP. 39
Musical theatre work for male voice and ensemble

From Britten to Weir, 12th-century Icelandic saga to Romantic tragedy, five rising stars of opera command the stage in the ultimate display of vocal prowess and charisma: solo drama. Works by five iconic British composers of the 20th and 21st centuries delve into the minds and souls of mythical and historical figures. Britten’s Phaedra explores the fate of the queen of Greek myth as reimagined in the 17th century by Racine. Bennett’s Ophelia inhabits the pale robes of Rimbaud’s tragic, waterborn maiden, while Berkeley’s Four Poems of St. Teresa of Avila set poetic spiritual raptures of the 16th-century Spanish mystic. Weir’s King Harald’s Saga is a microcosm of a three-act opera for unaccompanied soprano, chronicling the attempted Norwegian invasion of England in 1066. And Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King ricochets through the tortured mind of King George III in an extended, virtuosic mad scene that challenges perception and reality.

“Particularly beautiful playing”

–The Boston Musical Intelligencer

Cast and Creative

Stephanie Kacoyanis

Stephanie Kacoyanis
FOUR POEMS OF ST. TERESA OF AVILA

Martin Near

Martin Near
OPHELIA

Erica Brookhyser

Erica Brookhyser
PHAEDRA

Elisabth Keusch

Elizabeth Keusch
KING HARALD’S SAGA

Thomas Meglioranza

Thomas Meglioranza
EIGHT SONGS FOR A MAD KING

Gil Rose
CONDUCTOR

Media

Photos and video by Kathy Wittman / Ball Square Films.