The Importance of Being Earnest

Archive Listings for The Importance of Being Earnest

T1246380636 (BARB12) Concert Performance. European premiereProducer Barbican (in association with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group). Conductor Thomas Ades. Performer Barbara Hannigan (Cecily Cardew). Performer Peter Tantsits (John Worthing). Performer Joshua Bloom (Algernon Moncrieff). Performer Katalin Karolyi (Gwendolen Fairfax). Performer Hilary Summers (Miss Prism). Performer Alan Ewing (Lady Bracknell).
28 Apr 12	Symphony Hall, Birmingham :: V148 listing details L22648867
26 Apr 12	Barbican Centre, West End :: V371 listing details L605095697
Other listings
6 Dec 11 to 28 Jan 12	Old Red Lion, Inner London :: V216 listing details L576173391

Details

Opera or Operetta :: The full-length opera in three acts is Gerald Barry's typically idiosyncratic take on Oscar Wilde's definitive comedy of manners, complete with a whistling, marching, plate-smashing orchestra and gender-bending Lady Bracknell. Barry adapted the libretto himself, heavily cutting the original play to leave only the bare bones. Explaining his inspiration, the composer says: "I know of nothing like The Importance of Being Earnest - though perhaps it shares a subversion with Alice in Wonderland. The text revels in anarchy, and an Irish delight in the absurd - to the point of ecstasy." Reviewing the opera's world premiere in Los Angeles, Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "The opera is hysterically funny. The score is highly sophisticated and indescribably zany. Although unstaged, the concert performance proved marvelous theater. The world now has something rare: a new genuinely comic opera and maybe the most inventive Oscar Wilde opera since Richard Strauss' 'Salome' more than a century ago"

Music

Gerry Barry