Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976)

PETER GRIMES

An opera in a prologue and three acts. 
Libretto by Montagu Slater after George Crabbe´s poem The Borough (1810),
First performed in London, Sadler´s Wells, 7 June 1945.

Conductor: John Helmer Fiore 
Stage director: Paul Curran
Stage and costume designer: Robert Innes Hopkins
Lighting designer: Rick Fischer
Chorus master: David Maiwald


Production: Den Norske Opera & Ballett
in collaboration with Santa Fe Opera and Washington National Opera.

Peter Grimes, a fisherman in an English village, finds that people turn against him after he loses an apprentice in an accident at sea. When the same thing happens to the other apprentice, his close friend Ellen Orford, a teacher, also loses faith in him. Peter Grimes is an opera that asks more questions than it answers. Was Peter guilty in the deaths of his apprentices? We never find out. But that is not really what the story is about. What causes a whole community to condemn a person? And how do gossip and loose rumours come to be the “truth”? The tension is heightened by the chorus, which plays the part of the villagers in this diverse and modern psychological drama.

***

Paul Curran’s production moves the chorus masses with ruthlessness and ability and manages to isolate the most lyrical of moments.
Corriere della Sera

Peter Grimes is a triumph!
Corriere del Mezzogiorno

… a production of highest quality and refinement. (… ) a performance of European breadth and intelligence. (…) the menacing chorus, lit from deep below, was a nightmare scene that would have pleased David Lynch.
L’Opera

Read more press reviews

Performances: 
31.7. (premiere), 2.8., 4.8.

Peter Grimes will be sung in English. Finnish and English surtitles.

The performace begins at 19.00 and ends at about 22.30. Two intervals.

Production:

Cast:

Print the cast list

Peter Grimes, a fisherman, tenor:  
Henrik Englesviken
       
Ellen Orford, a widow, schoolmistress of the Borough, soprano:
Solveig Kringleborn

Captain Balstrode, retired merchant skipper, baritone:
Ole Jørgen Kristiansen

Auntie, landlady of "The Boar", contralto:
Hege Høisǽter

Niece 1 and Niece 2, main attractions of "The Boar", sopranos:
Silvia Moi, Mariann Fjeld Olsen

Bob Boles, fisherman and Methodist,  tenor:
Brenden Gunnell

Swallow, a lawyer, bass:   
Carsten Stabell

Mrs. (Nabob) Sedley, a rentier widow
of an East India Company's factor, mezzo-soprano:   
Frances McCafferty

Rev. Horace Adams, the rector, tenor:  Svein Erik Sagbråten   

Ned Keene, apothecary and quack, baritone:
John Chest

Hobson, carrier, bass:   
Yngve André Søberg

Boy (John), his apprentice, silent

Dr. Crabbe, silent

Chorus of townspeople and fisherfolk.

Orchestra and Choir of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet.

 24.4.2012 Alterations possible.