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| Bohuslav Martinů: The Greek Passion – Den Jyske Opera |
Bohuslav Martinů’s opera, The Greek Passion, is one of those complex works that continue to resonate, even though actual performances are still relatively rare. Whilst the work is technically about a village’s preparations for Easter, central to the action is how the villagers deal with a group of refugees, subject that remains alarmingly topical.
Jutland Opera (Den Jske Opera), Denmark’s touring opera company based in the country’s second city, Aarhus, opens a new production of Martinů’s The Greek Passion tonight, 23 August 2024. The production is a co-production with Theater Osnabrück where the production debuted in 2022. Directed by Philipp Kochheim and conducted by Andreas Holz, The Greek Passion features Rhys Jenkins, James Edgar Knight, Michael Ha, Amira Elmadfa, Stephanie Hershaw, Norbert Schmittberg, Mikolaj Bonkowski and Sten Byriel.
The work has a somewhat complex history. Written for Covent Garden in 1957, to Martinů’s own English libretto (based on Jonathan Griffin’s translation of the novel Christ Recrucified by Nikos Kazantzakis), the opera was rejected by Covent Garden, Zurich Opera and Universal Edition, Martinů radically revised the work and it was premiered in Zurich in 1961. The two versions are very different and the 1957 original was regarded as too radical, it has however been reconstructed and performed. Jutland Opera will be performing the work in the composer’s 1961 revision, in English.
Looking ahead, the company has two more operas in the 2024/25 season. This Autumn they are performing Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, conducted by Christopher Lichtenstein and directed by Ulrich Peters with Chunxi Stella Hu and Victoria Kaminskaite sharing the title role.
Perhaps even more interesting, the final production of the season is Fete Galante, the only opera by Danish composer, Poul Schierbeck (1888-1949), which premiered in 1931. A pupil of Carl Nielsen, Schierbeck was known as a teacher in the Conservatory at Copenhagen, and the overture to Fete Galante retained a place in the orchestral repertoire, but his opera remains a relative rarity.
Details from Den Jyske Opera’s website.
