The Rape of Lucretia: Deutsche Oper Berlin

About the Event

The thrilling intensity of Britten's chamber opera is brought to the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

Britten considered the ancient tale of the Roman Lucretia, a faithful and loving wife who is raped by the unscrupulous Tarquinius and commits suicide as a result, to be an apt subject for traumatised post‐war audiences. Using an orchestra of only 13 musicians and eight soloists, he came up with a work of thrilling intensity that is also one of his most lyrically beautiful pieces. Informed by the traditions of baroque opera, with its clear demarcation of arioso and recitativo sections, the work is overtly and deliberately reminiscent of Purcell, the most important English writer of operas before Britten. The chorus, accompanying and commenting on the action, is a reference to an ancient format, albeit here only in the form of one man [“Male Chorus”] and one woman [“Female Chorus”]. Britten created the title role for the celebrated alto Kathleen Ferrier, with Peter Pears taking the part of the “Male Chorus” and Joan Cross singing the “Female Chorus”.

Conductor: Nicholas Carter
Stage Director: Fiona Shaw
Set Design: Michael Levine
Costume Design: Nicky Gillibrand
Light Design: Paul Anderson

Male Chorus: Thomas Blondelle
Female Chorus: Ingela Brimberg
Collatinus: Tobias Kehrer
Junius: Seth Carico
Tarquinius: Noel Bouley
Lucretia: Katarina Bradic
Bianca: Ronnita Miller
Lucia: Elena Tsallagova

Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin