Overview
- The world premiere in Munich drew prolonged applause and standing ovations from the audience, signaling a strong launch for the new opera.
- Composer Brett Dean and librettist Heather Betts shaped the drama from historical letters and poems, with Vera-Lotte Boecker as Mary Stuart and Johanni van Oostrum as Elizabeth I under Vladimir Jurowski’s baton.
- Director Claus Guth sets the action in a split, white space that evokes Westminster Abbey as a clinical study, complete with two monumental sarcophagi.
- Reviews praised a tactile score that folds Renaissance and Baroque colors into modern textures, featuring a prominent harpsichord part by Mahan Esfahani.
- The co-production is slated to travel next to Santa Fe, the Garsington Festival, and Adelaide, which positions the piece for a broader international life.