Schulich School of Music of McGill University Concerts and Publicity 555 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1E3 Phone: (514) 398-8101; Fax: (514) 398-5514
P R E S S R E L E A S E
Opera McGill presents The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten January 28, 30 and 31, Pollack Hall
For immediate release
Montreal, December 17, 2008 – Wednesday, January 28, Friday, January 30, and Saturday January 31, at 7:30 p.m., in Pollack Hall, Opera McGill presents The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten. The production will have projected titles in both French and English. Tickets are $27 and $22 (students and seniors) and are available at the Pollack Hall Box Office, Monday through Friday, from 12:00 (noon) to 6:00 p.m. and one hour before each performance. Information and Box Office: (514) 398-4547. Tickets are also available through ADMISSION outlets. The production includes 15 singers and the McGill Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Julian Wachner, with sets designed by Vincent Lefèvre. Director of Opera McGill Studies Patrick Hansen is the stage director.
The Rape of Lucretia is an opera in two acts, which had the lead role tailored to the talents of the extraordinary contralto Kathleen Ferrier, who performed the title role in 1946. Ronald Duncan based the English libretto on André Obey’s play Le Viol de Lucrèce. It is the first work to which Britten applied his term ‘chamber opera,’ and the pared-down textures of the 13 piece orchestra, where recitative is accompanied by piano, serve to intensify the composer’s vision.
Plot Summary: Set in Rome around 510 BC, where the Etruscans rule Rome and in a camp outside the city, the Roman generals Junius and Collatinus entertain the Etruscan prince Tarquinius. Collatinus claims his wife Lucretia is perfectly faithful, the exception in a decadent society. The jealous Junius challenges Tarquinius to put this fidelity to the test and the proud Etruscan departs for Lucretia’s house. Lucretia does not surrender to his advances and he rapes her. Lucretia tells her husband that she has been raped and he attempts unsuccessfully to console her. She then commits suicide.
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Source: Kate Herzberg, Concerts and Publicity, 514-398-8101 Media: Alain Labonté Communications, 514-523-9922