Peter Grimes

When in 1945, Benjamin Britten created his first opera, Peter Grimes, for the reopening of Sadler's Wells in London, the success was resounding. Inspired by a poem by George Crabbe, the British composer did more than set a compatriot's text to music: he marked the revival of English opera, which almost disappeared after Purcell. If the superb orchestral interludes and the assertive lyricism give the work a classical appearance, the subject is terribly disturbing. Who is Peter Grimes, this man exposed to the hostility of his village, this fisherman from Suffolk whose apprentice dies on the high seas? A murderer or an innocent? a child abuser or a victim of prejudice? an anti-hero or a poet? Familiar with Britten, Deborah Warner, invited for the first time to the Paris Opera, preserves the mystery of this fascinating character while emphasizing the conflict between the group and the individual – a particularly topical theme. More information onhttps://www.operadeparis.fr/saison-22...,