Organization

Conductor

Nicholas Carter

Stage director

John Doyle

Set designer

Scott Pask

Costume designer

Ann Hould-Ward

Lighting designer

Peter Mumford

Singer

Soprano

Nicole Car

Ellen Orford

Laura Wilde

Tenor

Allan Clayton

Peter Grimes

Baritone

Adam Plachetka

Balstrode

Mezzo-soprano

Michaela Martens

Mrs (Nabob) Sedley

Contralto

Denyce Graves

Auntie

Brandie Suttton

Niece I

Maureen McKay

Niece II

Chad Shelton

Bob Boles

Tony Stevenson

Rev. Horace Adams

Justin Austin

Ned Keene

Bass

Patrick Carfizzi

Swallow

Harold Wilson

Hobson

The Metropolitan Opera

Others

Metropolitan Opera Choir

Orchestra

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

English

New York City

United States

Metropolitan Opera House

Peter Grimes Britten

Public

German

Spanish

Approved

Anthony Dean Griffey and Patricia Racette excel in John Doyles new production of Brittens most celebrated opera, Peter Grimes  filmed live at the Metropolita...

A work of subtle beauty, Benjamin Britten’s masterpiece delivers a tragically realistic rendering of the mistrust, misunderstandings, and dark secrets that lurk within even the closest communities. Tenor Allan Clayton, following his 2022 Met debut in the title role of Brett Dean’s Hamlet, takes on another complex protagonist as Peter Grimes, the enigmatic fisherman accused of the death of two apprentices. Nicholas Carter conducts John Doyle’s chilling production, which also features soprano Nicole Car as the empathetic Ellen Orford and baritone Adam Plachetka as the retired captain Balstrode, whose condemnation seals Grimes’s fate.
 

World premiere: Sadler’s Wells, London, 1945
 
One of the greatest masterpieces in the English operatic canon, Peter Grimes has been beloved by both audiences and critics since its first performance. Its popularity is due to several factors: an evocative score, a powerful use of chorus and orchestra, and a monumental title role of such dramatic potential that it can be explored over and over again by any tenor prepared to face its challenges.
 
Creators
British-born Benjamin Britten (1913–76) was a leading composer in a wide variety of genres, and several of his operas have proven to be among the most enduring of the 20th century. Montagu Slater (1902–56), a writer noted for addressing political and social issues in his works, crafted the libretto for Peter Grimes, adapting the poem “The Borough” by poet and naturalist George Crabbe (1754–1832).

Setting
The story is set in the Borough, a deliberately non-specific seaside village on England’s east coast that bears some comparison with Crabbe’s (and eventually Britten’s) hometown of Aldeburgh.
 
Music
One of the most appealing facets of this opera is that the score is neither strictly traditional nor self-consciously radical. It strikes a dramatically convincing balance between lyricism and dissonance. The celebrated orchestral “Sea Interludes” that connect several of the scenes are beautiful and powerful when heard on their own, but within the opera they are, as is the rest of the score, supreme examples of opera’s ability to create a connection between external events and characters’ inner lives.

Peter Grimes by Britten, From (2022/2022), Directed by John Doyle,, Conductor Nicholas Carter, Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, United States

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

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Venues