Two decades on, Lorin Maazel’s opera gets dusted off

The conductor’s only opera, based on George Orwell’s 1984, was premiered at Covent Garden in April 2005.

The premiere was paid for by Maazel, who also owned every facet of the production.

I wrote at the time: Lorin Maazel’s opera of George Orwell’s 1984, directed by Robert Lepage, arouses something akin to ambivalence in the crush bar, if not outright embarrassment. It is a matter of public record that the composer has paid the physical costs of the production out of his own pocket, a contribution tantamount to self publishing. It is also no secret that Maazel is 75 years old and has never written an opera before… (More here).

After a few performances in London and Milan, the opera fell into disuse.

Next week, we learn, it will receive a German premiere at Theater am Bismarckplatz in Regensburg, Bavaria. It’s been so long, I’m almost curious to see it again.