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Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach

Alan Oke Peter Grimes | Giselle Allen Ellen Orford | David Kempster Captain Balstrode | Chorus of the Opera North | Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music &amp | Drama
Tim Albery, live production director
Britten-Pears Orchestra
Steuart Bedford

Filmed in June 2013 during three extraordinary performances that took place during the Aldeburgh Festival, "Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh beach" takes place in the heart of the town that inspired it and is the film interpretation of Britten’s Peter Grimes, the most successful opera of post-war Britain. Based on George Crabbe’s 1810 poem ‘The Borough’, Britten’s powerful and masterful evocation of the North Sea in all its moods has become inextricably linked with the Aldeburgh that was home to Crabbe in the late eighteenth century and Britten in the twentieth, and where both poem and opera were written. Conceived and hosted by the Aldeburgh Festival, the performances of Peter Grimes were directed by Tim Albery who placed the audience on the beach watching the story of Peter Grimes unfold as dusk fades over the sea. The cast and chorus, with Alan Oke in the eponymous role of Peter Grimes, Giselle Allen as Ellen Orford, and David Kempster as Captain Balstrode, sing live with amplification, while the Britten-Pears Orchestra under the baton of Britten expert Steuart Bedford is pre-recorded.

Repertoire

Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes, Libretto by Montagu Slater Derived from the poem "The Borough" by George Crabbe

Awards
International Opera Award 2014 (Anniversary Production)

Facts

Prog. No.
8792
Music genre
Opera
Length
141 mins
Director
Margaret Williams
Producers
Arthaus Musik
Production year
2013
Format
HD