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Juilliard Opera Presents Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River

Dec. 03, 2012

Juilliard Opera Presents Benjamin Britten’s <em>Curlew River</em>

The Juilliard Opera presents a new production of Benjamin Britten’s fascinating church parable Curlew River on December 9, 11 and 13. Britten combines elements of Japanese Noh theater and medieval morality play to create, in this short parable, a deeply moving work of music theater.  Directed by John Giampietro and conducted by Mark Shapiro, the 70-minute chamber opera is written for male voices, silent roles, and small ensemble, and received its premiere in 1964 at the Aldeburgh Festival. The first of Britten’s three Church Parables (“A Parable for Church Performance”), the work tells the story of a woman who has gone mad after losing her son, and features a libretto by 20th-century South African author William Plomer based on the Japanese Noh-play “Sumidagawa” penned by 15-century writer Juro Motomasa.  

This holiday season also brings with it performances of Benjamin Britten’s Men of Goodwill - Variations on a Christmas Carol at Carnegie Mellon University, December 7, and then again at Northern Arizona University on December 9. Britten’s eight-minute orchestral setting of the popular carol “God rest ye merry, gentlemen” premiered on Christmas Day, 1947 via BBC Radio broadcast performed by the London Symphony Orchestra led by Walter Goehr. Since then, it has garnered a faithful audience and become a yearly holiday favorite for orchestras. The work also received a holiday performance on December 2 at the Mayo Clinic – the internationally renowned health and research center located in Rochester, Minnesota.

To find out more about the Curlew River performances at Juilliard, click here.

Read more about Benjamin Britten at www.fabermusic.com.

Curlew River (1964)
parable for church performance
libretto (En) by William Plomer after the Japanese Noh-play “Sumidagawa”
for tenor, 2 baritone, bass, treble, men’s chorus (3T, 3Bar, 2B)
fl(pic)-hn-viola-bass-hp-1perc-chamber organ
70’

Benjamin Britten
Men of Goodwill - Variations on a Christmas Carol(God rest ye merry, gentlemen) (1947)
for orchestra
2.pic.2.2.2-4.2.3.1-timp.2perc-hp-str
8’

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