Details

As with Britten's more better-known opera The Turn of the Screw, this story was taken from Henry James and has ghostly overtones. Its two acts follow the impact on a family with a proud military history when their son as 'heir to the Wingrave flag of glory' rejects what the history represents. Gazing at the ancestral portraits he finds his own image not in them, but 'in peace', yet his innately violent nature proves a challenge that can only be defeated through one final terrible action.

Creatives/Company

Music: Benjamin Britten
Lyrics: Myfanwy Piper (after Henry James's short story Opera in two acts)
Presented by: British Youth Opera
Director: Max Webster
Conductor: Alex Ingram
Design: James Cotterill
Lighting: David Howe