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The Tempest (opera)

The Tempest is an opera by English composer Thomas Adès with a libretto in English by Meredith Oakes based on the play The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

For other uses, see The Tempest (disambiguation).

Background and premiere performances[edit]

Following the success of Powder Her Face, The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, commissioned a new opera from Adès in the late 1990s. Working with a librettist, a poetic version of the Jonestown Massacre of 1978 was prepared, but the composer found it impossible to set it to music. Finally, the libretto he needed emerged from a collaboration with Meredith Oakes.


The new opera became a co-production with the Copenhagen Opera House and the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg. The Tempest received its world premiere to critical acclaim at the Royal Opera House in London on 10 February 2004. Other productions followed in Strasbourg and Copenhagen later in 2005 and the opera was given its US premiere staging by the Santa Fe Opera on 29 July 2006.

Performance history[edit]

Covent Garden revived the opera in March 2007 with the same production team, Thomas Adès conducting, and many of the original London cast, including Simon Keenlyside, Cyndia Sieden, Ian Bostridge, Toby Spence, Philip Langridge, and Stephen Richardson repeating their original roles. Cyndia Sieden is the only member of the cast to sing her role, that of Ariel in all four previous productions. Amongst others new to the cast are soprano Kate Royal as Miranda and countertenor David Cordier as Trinculo.


As a co-production with the 2012 Québec City Opera Festival created by director Robert Lepage[1] and the Vienna State Opera (June 2015),[2] New York's Metropolitan Opera mounted a new production of The Tempest in the autumn of 2012 featuring Simon Keenlyside. It won the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. The 2012 Met production was streamed online on May 12, September 6 and December 7, 2020.[3][4]

The BBC broadcast The Tempest on 23 June 2007 from the Covent Garden revival and a commercial recording featuring Bostridge, Keenlyside, Sieden and Royal was released by EMI Classics in June 2009.

[11]

The Metropolitan Opera production from 2012, conducted by Adès, was issued on DVD by . Prospero: Simon Keenlyside; Ariel: Audrey Luna; Caliban: Alan Oke; Miranda: Isabel Leonard; Ferdinand: Alek Shrader; King of Naples: William Burden; Antonio: Tony Spence; Stefano: Kevin Burdette; Trinculo: Iestyn Davies; Sebastian: Christopher Feigum; Gonzalo: John Del Carlo. The production was by Robert Lepage. Winner of the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.

Deutsche Grammophon

Anthony Holden, "A truly prosperous Prospero", The Observer, London, 15 February 2004

Michael White, "The Tempest, Royal Opera House, London: A triumph for Britain's brightest and best", The Independent, London, 11 February 2004

"The Tempest triumphs". The Guardian, leader, 12 February 2004.

London premiere production reviews, 2004:


American premiere production reviews, 2006:


London revival production reviews, 2007:


The opera was listed as the fifth greatest classical composition of the 21st century in a 2019 poll by The Guardian.[12]

Braun, William R., "Its Charms Crack Not", (New York), October 2012. (A detailed analysis of the musical structure of the opera)

Opera News