Organization

Admin

New Palace Opera

Conductor

Michael Thorne

Orchestra

Orchestra of New Palace Opera

Singer

Baritone

Arthur Bruce

Billy Budd

Tenor

Jonathan Finney

Captain Edward Fairfax Vere

Bass

Gerrit Paul Groen

John Claggart

Nicolas Morris

Mr Redburn

Bass-baritone

Conall O'Neill

Mr Flint

Ben Knight

Lieutenant Ratcliffe

Andreas Bigom

Red Whiskers

Michael Temporal Darell

Donald

Gerard Delrez

Dansker

Bo Wang

A novice

Stephen Whitford

The novice's friend

Robert Felstead

Squeak

Tey Kamal

Bosun

William Semple

First mate

Joshua Lane

Second mate

Robin Whitehouse

Maintop

Arthur Jones

Adam Brown

Officer

Richard Jackson

Sam Leggett

Ciaran O’Meara

Yuki Okuyama

Gary Rushton

Alex Riddell

“All hands on deck!”

London

United Kingdom

St John's Waterloo

“All hands on deck!”: Billy Budd Britten

Public

Alejandro Alberto Giess Sarmiento

Approved

New Palace Opera continues its journey through the works of Benjamin Britten with a rare outing for Billy Budd. 

The novelist EM Forster has a long fascination with Melville’s original novella, Billy Budd, his tale of a tragic incident on an 18th century warship; working with the Britten’s long-time collaborator, the librettist Eric Crozier, Forster crafted the libretto for the Britten’s opera, which opened in Covent Garden in 1951. Originally in four acts, Britten revised it as a two-act opera that is usually performed these days as it is in our concert.

Set onboard the warship HMS Indomitable, it’s one of the few men-only operas in the repertoire. The story features the fateful relationship between the revered Captain Vere, his Master-at-Arms, John Claggart, and Billy Budd, the darling of the crew who, provoked by Claggart, accidentally kills him.

In our concert the title role of Billy Budd is to be sung by the rising opera star Arthur Bruce, described recently in Opera Magazine as possessing a “burnished timbre and charismatic stage presence”.

The cast includes:

Arthur Bruce: Billy Budd, foretopman

Jonathan Finney: Captain Edward Fairfax Vere, Captain of HMS Indomitable 

Gerrit Paul Groen: John Claggart, Master-at-Arms

Michael Thorne conducts the New Palace Opera Orchestra.

Performed with the permission of Boosey & Hawkes.

English

“All hands on deck!” by Britten, From (2024/2024), Conductor Michael Thorne, St John's Waterloo, London, United Kingdom

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues