Opera tonight: Turn of the Screw in Reggio

Opera tonight: Turn of the Screw in Reggio

Opera

norman lebrecht

August 04, 2023

In an oppressive atmosphere filled with unseen phantoms and hallucinations, Benjamin Britten’s fourth opera is his most captivating, brought to you by Slippedisc, courtesy of OperaVision. What is left unsaid takes centre stage echoing a void at the centre of Henry James’s original story; an empty centre around which gravitates the characters with their hopes and fears – an absence that drags all the characters into an unstoppable downward spiral. I Teatri’s new production in Reggio Emilia is conducted by Francesco Bossaglia and directed by Fabio Condemi who writes, I believe that Britten’s The Turn of the Screw is not just a musical transposition of Henry James’s novella. It is a profound reflection on its themes, a musical parallel that continually dialogues, approaches and detaches itself from the original.’

Peter Quint sings the role of Florian Panzieri, Ben Fletcher as Miles and Maia Greaves as Flora and Laura Zecchini as The governess. The opera is sung in English with English subtitles.

The Plot: In a remote country house, the newly-appointed governess arrives to take charge of the orphaned Flora and Miles. She must fight to protect them from strange and menacing spirits. But are these apparitions real, or the product of her troubled imagination? And what terrible evil occurred before her arrival?

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Comments

  • Anonymous Bosch says:

    Any other upcoming engagements for Peter Quint? He was great as Parpignol!

  • David K. Nelson says:

    Um … “Peter Quint sings the role of Florian Panzieri ….”??

    Is Miss Jessell the prompter?

  • RW2013 says:

    If one counts Paul Bunyan, Turn is the ninth of Britten’s sixteen operas.

  • Joel Kemelhor says:

    Musically well performed, but with unneeded visual / technical distractions.

    The 1955 Britten recording gets across the atmosphere by sound alone — and David Hemmings is astonishing as Miles.

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