2000 – An opera retrospective
by Philip Harrison
The new staging by English National Opera of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking makes me think back to the year 2000, Y2K. Sometimes in classical music a new work catches the public’s attention and mood immediately. Other times it can be a slow burn. A generation (25 years) ahead, I thought I would look back on some works premiered in that year and try to rehear some. Perhaps they sound differently now. I didn’t intend to restrict myself to operas. It just turned out that way. Maxwell Davies’ Symphony No. 7 and Thomas Adès’ Piano Quintet both date from those years and there were several other very fine new works in the orchestral, chamber and instrumental genres. I have chosen ten operatic works that were first given in 2000. Maybe this retrospective will inspire you to listen to one or more yourself.
January: John Harbison – The Great Gatsby
I am cheating here a little as this work was premiered by the Metropolitan Opera, New York, a few days before Christmas 1999, but had its broadcast premiere of the first day of the new Millenium. Based obviously on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald it is an easy listen, not taxing nor challenging and not too great a leap from Barber and Menotti perhaps in style. The original cast starred Dawn Upshaw and the much-missed Jerry Hadley. The supporting cast were not too shabby either.
February: Mark-Anthony Turnage – The Silver Tassie
I consider this to be one of Turnage’s greatest works. A moving, lyrical opera, it was first given at ENO with Gerald Finley magnificent as the central character, the football hero and war casualty, Harry Heegan. The work has Irish roots and is anti-war in its sentiments. It followed an earlier foray into opera: Greek. Turnage has since gone on to write Anna Nicole, Coraline and recently Festen but for me no work of his is as impressive as this.
March: Poul Ruders – The Handmaid’s Tale
The Danes went crazy for this at its Copenhagen premiere. Based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, many of us will also have seen the TV series starring Elisabeth Moss. When ENO staged it in 2003, they had Stephanie Marshall as Offred and Helen Field as Aunt Lydia. The 2022 production at the Coliseum, which has since been revived, starred Kate Lindsey. It is quite a long opera and not always an easy listen but well worth getting to know better.
April: Harrison Birtwistle – The Last Supper
Given first under Barenboim in Berlin this work was toured by Glyndebourne later in 2000 and presented at the main house in 2001. Martyn Brabbins gave it a reappraisal in Scotland in 2017. I heard this on the BBC and found the work tough going. I need to try again, I think. Birtwistle’s operas are worth investing time in, I promise you, but I would start with the big three first if I were you: The Mask of Orpheus (1986), Gawain (1991) and my personal favourite The Minotaur (2008).
June: Michael Berkeley – Jane Eyre
The theft of the score of Act 1, left in a car outside his house, necessitated Berkeley having to do a full re-write before the Cheltenham premiere. Composed for a small orchestra this work seems to breathe the same air as Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Chandos recorded a later performance at the Linbury and it was reviewed by MWI.
August: Kaija Saariaho – L’Amour de loin
This was Saariaho’s breakthrough work. It is a slow, meditative piece based on the courtly love of troubadour Jaufré Rudel for the distant Clémence. It was first given at the Felsenreitschule, Salzburg in a Peter Sellars production. Since then, ENO have done it under Edward Gardner in 2009, and the Met got to it in a stunning production in December 2016. This magnificent work would be my recommendation for anyone wanting to explore the sound world of this greatly missed composer, who died in June 2023. A recording made by Harmonia Mundi is reviewed here.
September: Aulis Sallinen – King Lear
This is another recommendable work, quite lyrical and written for big strong operatic voices. Sallinen has written some splendid operas, this was the last of them. The roles of Lear and Gloucester are tailor made for Matti Salminen and Jorma Hynninen, voices he knew so well. This fits the exact tradition, the great composers of the golden age laid down, crafting and fashioning roles specifically for a certain singer with exquisite skill.
October: Jake Heggie – Dead Man Walking
With over eighty productions, this opera is by far the most frequently performed of our century so far. The role of Sister Helen was originally created by Susan Graham but in recent years has been owned by Joyce DiDonato. She sang it at the Barbican with the BBCSO in 2018. The Met staging dates from September 2023. As this article is published, Dead Man Walking is being given by ENO at their Coliseum home. There are two reviews of the opera here at MWI: (Houston 2011) and (San Francisco Premere 2000)
October: Aribert Reimann – Bernarda Albas Haus
This is the only work in the list I have not heard. It is based on the Lorca play: La casa de Bernarda Alba. In Munich at this period, Intendant, Peter Jonas was commissioning some important works, and this premiere was big news. The production at the Nationaltheater was by Harry Kupfer and it was conducted by Zubin Mehta. The music runs for two hours or more and there is no interval. The all-female cast is headed by the tyrannical Bernarda, who was sung at the premiere by Helga Dernesch. It all sounds pretty bleak from what I can gather. Some critics at the time complained it was too cerebral and too monotonous. It has since been revived in Germany. Obviously Reimann, who died in 2024, also wrote a famous Lear opera. I would like to hear this work someday.
December: John Adams – El Niño
Really this is a nativity oratorio and does not need to be staged. It has been adopted by opera houses nonetheless since its very first outing, staged by Peter Sellars in Paris with Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Willard White (review – review). We first heard it in the UK, I think, in 2003 with Adams himself conducting the BBCSO. Since then, at least two other London orchestras have presented it, as have the ENO. The Metropolitan Opera staged it in 2024 conducted by Marin Alsop. With Christmas approaching why not add it to your playlist for its Silver Jubilee?
I hope you have enjoyed this little retrospective. If you saw any of the original productions, or have any happy memories of any subsequent encounters in these or any other premieres that year, please comment on the message board.
