Britten: The Turn of the Screw

The opera with a tragic ending which, due to the unreliability of its narrator, never offers a clue to those in search of the truth, is a real showpiece musically and for its director as well. With the world-famous soloists returning to the Budapest Festival Orchestra, an experience that will remain with its audience is guaranteed.
Britten was eighteen years old when he first came across Henry James's 1898 novelette in the form of a radio drama. The eerie story grabbed the young composer r...ight away, but it was only later that he composed an opera from it. It was Britten's friend, former artist Myfanwy Piper, who realized that the text was suitable material for a libretto. Their joint work went smoothly, despite the two co-authors living far away from each other, and having to rely upon letters and long conversations over the phone. The opera in two acts, commissioned by the Venice Biennale, was finished by 1954 and was premiered at the Teatro La Fenice on September 14.
Undoubtedly, The Turn of the Screw is a musical bravura. Consisting of a Prologue outlining the basic situation and sixteen scenes, each episode of the opera begins with an instrumental introduction, which, put together, turn out to be a musical theme and its fifteen variations. Britten's and Piper's characters are enchanting and spine-chilling at the same time - apart from its form, this is another outstanding quality of the opera. The Governess is sung by Miah Persson; the Swedish soprano is well-known to BFO audiences. Two singers with a breathtaking range of voice perform the roles of the Housekeeper and the ghost-Governess - Laura Aikin, who has sung under the baton of the greatest conductors, and Allison Cook, whose Miss Jessel was dubbed by the critic of Opera Magazine as "spellbinding”. They will be joined by the British tenor Andrew Staples, a former student of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.