The Odyssey Opera Presents THE BRITISH INVASION, 5/17-6/20

Odyssey Opera, a Boston-­??based opera company dedicated to exploring the full spectrum of adventurous repertoire, today announced THE BRITISH INVASION, a month-­??long opera festival of fully-­??staged productions of works by English composers. From May 17-­??June 20, Boston opera lovers will have the unique opportunity to choose from four evening-­??length programs encompassing nine diverse operatic works, including the Boston premiere of Vaughan Williams's Sir John in Love, a double bill of Walton's The Bear and Sullivan's The Zoo, five compelling monodramas, and Ade?s's masterpiece of modern cultural commentary, Powder Her Face. (See below for complete program details.)

"British opera doesn't play safe, and neither does Odyssey Opera," said Gil Rose, artistic director/founder/conductor of Odyssey Opera. "We look forward to sharing some of British opera's high theatrics with Boston audiences. Against a background of decline on the global opera scene, Britain started to produce operatic composers and dozens of successful works in the 20th century. This resurgence of the English language opera was remarkable. The floodgates of English opera opened in the 20th century and the genre has been taking strides ever since."

Credited with a major role in the early 20th-­??century revival of a British musical identity, Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-­??1958) was a central figure throughout six decades of British music before his death in 1958. The quintessential "Englishness" for which he is often cited drew on native resources like English folksong, rather than turning to foreign influences. Vaughan Williams's Sir John in Love (1928) has been hailed as a rare success in transposing Shakespeare to English-­??language opera. Odyssey Opera brings the joyous, exhilarating, wry humor of this opera to Boston for the first time. Music-­??Web International praised Sir John in Love's music as some of Vaughan Williams's "most inspired, subtle, tuneful and colourful."

One of England's most important composers of the generation between Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten was William Walton (1902-­??83). Walton's wit and sharp focus were a fresh addition to the English compositional tradition and inspired widespread admiration and affection. Odyssey Opera presents Walton's delightful one-­??act comic chamber opera The Bear (1967) based on Chekhov's play of the same name. Walton's finely honed, faithful operatic adaptation perfectly matches the tone of Chekhov's original. For a double-­??bill performance, Odyssey pairs The Bear with the one-­??act "musical folly" The Zoo (1875) by Arthur Sullivan (1842-­??1900). Best known for his comic operas as the composer in the Gilbert and Sullivan partnerships, Sullivan was praised by Welsh critic Ian Parrott as a uniquely "broad-­??minded musician" who transcended the confines of the light, popular genre in which he worked. Alongside Sullivan's Trial by Jury and Cox and Box, The Zoo has become a popular curtain raiser after long years of neglect.

For one night only, Odyssey Opera introduces audiences to a selection of the brightest stars among Boston's emerging vocalists in a special evening of monodramas by five great British composers of the 20th century. The program includes Phaedra by Benjamin Britten (1913-­??76), Ophelia by Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-­??2012), Four Poems of St. Teresa of Avila by Lennox Berkeley (1903-­?? 89), King Harald'?s Saga by Judith Weir (b.1954), and Eight Songs for a Mad King by Peter Maxwell Davies (b.1934). Each of these works is a tour-­??de-­??force for a solo singer, sometimes inhabiting multiple roles.

Culminating THE BRITISH INVASION festival is the fully staged production of Powder Her Face (1995) by Thomas Ade?s (b.1971). Hailed with numerous honors and extensive praise as a phenomenally talented young compositional voice, Ade?s has become a major figure in the contemporary music world. According to The New Yorker, "he has outgrown his status as the wunderkind of a vibrant British scene and become one of the most imposing figures in contemporary music." Powder Her Face is a sardonic, darkly comic opera with a libretto by Philip Hensher inspired by the life, times, and tabloid-­??worthy exploits of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, a.k.a. the "Dirty Duchess."

About Odyssey Opera

Founded in 2013 by Artistic Director/Conductor Gil Rose, Odyssey Opera presents adventurous and eclectic works that affirm opera as a powerful expression of the human experience. Its world-­??class artists perform the operatic repertoire from its historic beginnings throughlesser-­??known masterpieces to contemporary new works and commissions in a variety of formats and venues. Odyssey Opera sets standards of high musical and theatrical excellence and innovative programming to advance the operatic genre beyond the familiar and into undiscovered territory. Odyssey Opera takes its audience on a journey to places they've never been before. www.odysseyopera.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.