In the Wings

The 2018/19 Community Engagement & Education Intern considers her Season at BLO and the Company's work alongside THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA and THE HANDMAID'S TALE.

Boston Lyric Opera’s production of The Rape of Lucretia includes a unique lobby installation--fragments of Lucretia’s story are deconstructed elements from canonical Old Masters paintings, reminding the audience that stories are manipulated by arrangement, interpretation, emphasis, and absence.

The rape of Lucretia is a narrative rooted in historical fact: the tale of a Roman matron’s rape and subsequent suicide has lived on in the Western imagination for 2,500 years. What did the story mean to Benjamin Britten, when he created it in the 1940s? What does it mean to us today as we view it?

As a young man Angus studied piano and conducting, setting his sights on a career in the orchestral repertory. But early experiences changed his course--and brought him into the world of opera.

The Rape of Lucretia, begun during the last years of World War II, marks a decisive break with the grand opera tradition. It is the most transparent and tension-filled of Britten’s mid-century works, combining his beautiful melodic writing with dramatic pungency and colorful tone painting.

While there is no one way to respond to the personal experience of watching an artistic portrayal of sexual violence, the pervasiveness of such scenes in opera raises broader questions. What does it mean to portray sexual violence on the operatic stage, especially in LUCRETIA and HANDMAID'S TALE?

Whether you live in the city or are just visiting there are always new places to explore and discover. Explore the recently developed Fort Point and South Boston Seaport area just minutes from the venue for our next opera, The Rape of Lucretia.

Our spring season begins with the powerful story of Lucretia, a woman who's choice to speak up sparked change. Hear General and Artistic Director Esther Nelson discuss why BLO selected this opera and why you should witness this remarkable story.

Lucretia is a creation of allegory, history and myth entwined, one that can help us understand on one level, the founding of the ancient Roman Republic; on another, the inherent tension between honor, patriarchy, and tyranny; and on still another, the nature of power itself.

The complex ambiguities and the disturbing moral and psychological interpretations that lie below the surface in the story of Lucretia have long fascinated writers, painters, composers, and philosophers.