Bernstein and Smetana operas on Zoom

Little did I imagine when I discovered A Quiet Place in the last of ten revelatory (to me) Zoom classes on Bernstein that the opportunity to explore it in greater detail would arise so soon: Royal Opera artistic director Oliver Mears is directing it in the house's Linbury Theatre this October together with the one-act masterpiece to which it forms the unexpected sequel, Trouble in Tahiti. So we start the autumn Opera in Depth term with both. The above image is of Krysztof Warlikowski's Paris Opera production

I may not get the usual numbers of students, as neither these nor Smetana's Libuše are exactly popular choices. But in the 200th anniversary year of the great Czech, and having experienced more of his wonderful operas in lovely Litomyšl, it was high time to pay tribute to a very different magnum opus. Jiří Heřman's stunning Brno production seemed unsurpassable (pictured above; review here), but I was happy to hear this pageant opera in concert this year, conducted by the great Jakub Hrůša.  

Do join us, starting on Monday 30 September. If you can't attend in person, films can be sent. Full details below (click to enlarge).