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Swiss Premiere of Gerald Barry's The Importance of Being Earnest

Apr. 01, 2019

Swiss Premiere of Gerald Barry's <em>The Importance of Being Earnest</em>

The Swiss premiere of Gerald Barry's The Importance of Being Earnest takes place on April 30 at Nouvel Opéra Fribourg and runs through May 2. A co-production with Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet, Barry's comic opera will have performances in Fribourg as well as Paris under the baton of conductor Jérôme Kuhn with stage direction by Julien Chavez.

When asked what the theme of his play [The Importance of Being Earnest] was, Wilde answered “That we should treat all trivial things in life very seriously, and all serious things in life with a sincere and studied triviality". Gerald Barry’s fifth opera, based on the play, is genuinely comic with a dark heart. Wilde's play is all but perfect in its construction, and Barry’s audacious approach triumphantly confounds all expectations. As Barry describes it: "The play’s bones are unshatterable. My version is an X-ray of it." The musical references range from Beethoven to Schoenberg, all treated with a reckless panache and impish wit, by turns dazzling, startling and charming the audience.

Listen to Gerald Barry’s String Quartet No. 1 (1985) here:

(String Quartet No. 1/Gerald Barry/Members of the Xenia Ensemble)

To learn more about Gerald Barry, visit schott-music.com.

Gerald Barry
The Importance of Being Earnest
 (2009/2010)
opera in three acts
libretto (Eng) by the composer based on the play by Oscar Wilde
soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, bass-baritone, 2 basses; male chamber choir
1(pic).1(ca).1.bcl.2(2.cbsn)-2.2(1.Dtpt).1.1-timp.2perc-pno(cel).str
90’

 

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