Is it a comedy? A morality tale? A fantastical epic of magic, fairies and avenging mortals? The opera retains the essentials of the plot.
"The Tempest" is the work of a composer who is prodigiously talented and who knows it.Ĭhoosing Shakespeare's elusive play took a leap of imagination. Adès's arresting compositional voice comes through almost continually: his ear for pungent harmony his layering of every-which-way contrapuntal lines, which somehow remain audible his impish blending of diverse musical styles. Yet despite some cumbersome passages that could use more attention, Mr. Six weeks before the premiere, cast members were still receiving vocal parts in the mail. Oakes's libretto in hand, he had only two years to compose this ambitious score: three acts of roughly 45 minutes each. When he began the project, he was unsettled on the subject and had a different librettist. Adès's frantic rush to finish the opera on time. The local press has been full of articles about Mr. Adès, who also conducted, joined the cast onstage at the end, he was given a hero's ovation. What I can say after attending Friday night's performance here is that this young composer, just 32, has written an entrancing opera, with a libretto by Meredith Oakes, adapted from the Shakespeare play. Others can assess how well he has met the unreasonable expectations. But could he put it all together for a major Covent Garden commission?
Adès has produced a roster of bracing orchestra, chamber and choral works. Adès, then in his 20's, was already being hailed as the great hope of British music and the most accomplished British musician over all since Benjamin Britten. 22 - An absurdly high level of expectation attended the premiere of "The Tempest," the first large-scale opera by the British composer Thomas Adès, which was introduced on Feb.
OPERA REVIEW | 'THE TEMPEST' Noises, Sounds, Sweet Airs From Young British Hope By ANTHONY TOMMASINI Alastair Muir Cyndia Sieden is Ariel in "The Tempest" at Covent Garden.
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