Larmes De Couteau/ Full Moon In March by Martinů, Harbison, ig. 28 api. 2024, Noiztik (2024/2024), Zuzendaria Edward Reeve, Royal Opera House, London, United Kingdom

Britten Sinfonia joins The Royal Opera House for a double bill of chamber operas by Martinů and American composer John Harbison. Dada meets foxtrot, jazz, ragtime, and blues in Larmes de couteau, the surreal one-act opera by Bohuslav Martinů. This is paired alongside John Harbison's unsettling, fantastical opera Full Moon in March, adapted from a late, symbol-laden play by WB Yeats and set in an unspecified, mythic kingdom. Harbison's sinister and moody musical palette reflects Yeats' mysticism, and the influence of Celtic mythology on Yeats' writing shows up in the opera's plot of a Queen who promises herself and her realm to any worthy suitor, but who beheads the filthy swineherd upon his attempt to seduce her.