PETER GRIMES

Anthony Dean Griffey creates a haunting portrait of the outcast fisherman who struggles under the burden of presumed guilt.

Peter Grimes, Britten’s second opera, is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of postwar opera, and its premiere 63 years ago marked a turning point in the history of British Opera. It is now considered a masterwork of 20th Century opera, and since its premiere, it became the first opera by an English composer to enter and remain in the international repertory.

Much of the emotional drive of the opera comes from the four “Sea Interludes” – calm, storm, at dawn and by moonlight. These are among the most brilliantly evocative music that Britten ever wrote and which help to establish the constant, overpowering presence of the sea as the opera’s dominant force.

In this new production of Britten’s haunting seaside tale, Tony Award-winner John Doyle directs tenor Anthony Dean Griffey in the complex title role of this engrossing and enthralling theatrical journey. The riveting Patricia Racette plays Ellen Orford, the woman who refuses to abandon Grimes.