Last heard at the Proms in 1977, 'The Midsummer Marriage' is Tippett’s answer to Mozart’s 'The Magic Flute', an opera rich in symbolism and psychology, trials and transformations. Paul Groves and Erin Wall are Mark and Jenifer, Ailish Tynan and Allan Clayton, Bella and Jack, two couples tested by a series of supernatural interventions on the shortest night of the year. With David Wilson-Johnson as King Fisher.
One of today’s leading Tippett exponents, Sir Andrew Davis conducts
the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony
Chorus in a concert performance.
Paul Groves tenor (Mark)
Erin Wall soprano, Proms debut artist (Jenifer)
Peter Sidhom baritone (King Fisher)
Ailish Tynan soprano (Bella)
Allan Clayton tenor (Jack)
Catherine Wyn-Rogers mezzo-soprano (Sosostris)
David Soar bass (He-Ancient)
Madeleine Shaw mezzo-soprano (She-Ancient)
(Note: there are two intervals of 20 minutes)
(Note: at 4.45pm in the Royal College of Music there is a Proms Plus
Intro event. Louise Fryer talks to Oliver Soden about Tippett's own
libretto for 'The Midsummer Marriage' and the influence on the opera
of poet T. S. Eliot.)