Photo: Gerard Collett Together, Barbora Horáková and Issachah Savage examine one of the most fascinating and complex characters in opera history. Barbora Horáková The director Barbora Horáková studied singing at the Basel Academy of Music and the Geneva Conservatory of Music, and directing at the Bayerische Theaterakademie in Munich. She soon grew to become one of the prominent opera directors of her generation, with productions for companies including the Wiener Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, the National Theatre in Prague and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. She made her DNO debut in 2021 with Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli. Barbora Horáková: “Peter Grimes is set in a small fishing community, and the sea plays a crucial role in both the music and the action. The opera’s appeal goes much further, though: it confronts us profoundly with the human condition. We all know groups, whether they are a school class, a village or a neighbourhood, that refuse to accept anyone who deviates from the norm in any way. This opera is a superb, enthralling account of how the dangerous mechanisms of a lack of empathy, mob mentality, incitement and exclusion can get out of hand.” “At the heart of the opera is Peter Grimes, the fisherman accused of the murder of his apprentice. He is officially acquitted but the other villagers continue to see him as guilty. A really strong aspect of this opera is the decision by the composer and librettist to be vague about what actually happened. It gives the opera real depth and ambiguity. The Peter Grimes Interview Stage director Horáková and tenor Issachah Savage on Peter Grimes “ The parallels with today’s world uncann are 22 Opera
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