In the Wings

BARBER’s story celebrates the lower classes, democratizing opera through sophisticated showpieces for scheming servants and deceptive suitors. Composers, librettists, actors, and singers could mock the complex love intrigues of the upper class and lay bare the social injustices of their time.

Laura Stanfield Prichard surveys TOSCA, a fierce battle of wills set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.

The Marriage of Figaro is a masterful blend of comedic and tragic elements, playing with operatic conventions and introducing innovative musical elements. In the words of Johannes Brahms, “…each number in Figaro is a miracle; it is totally beyond me how anyone could create anything so perfect; nothing like it was ever done again….”

After Mark-Anthony Turnage studied at Tanglewood Music Center with Hans Werner Henze in 1983, Henze arranged a commission from him for the Munich Biennale, and thus Greek premiered in 1988. The “then unknown, twenty-five-year-old English composer” had “never written a piece longer than fifteen minutes,” but established a growing international reputation after the enthusiastic reception to Greek’s world premiere. Greek won two awards and was a highlight of the 1988 Edinburgh Festival.

Greek: A story written by a supervillain. This contemporary English opera is based on the 1980 play of the same title by actor and playwright Steven Berkoff. Greek: Where it’s at: Turnage’s opera Greek was premiered in the Carl-Orff-Hall of Munich’s Gasteig complex.