Lucretia

Benjamin Britten's masterful chamber opera Lucretia is about power and its opposite. The classic story of the assault on Lucretia is a dramatic study in power and powerlessness. Concepts such as honor and shame, guilt and responsibility, and innocence and exploitation are brought to life on stage, making the opera timeless and always relevant.

Lucretia is not just a musical masterpiece – it is also an opera which makes a lasting impression. The plot is scarily relevant today: "Lucretia is about honor, power, ethics – and about our civic duty to fight against abuse of power and tyranny," says the performance's director Freja Friberg Lyme. “The opera takes place 2500 years ago, but the themes are perhaps more relevant today than ever. For me, the opera is about the importance of rising against a hostile superior force. No matter how small and powerless you feel, your actions can have a great, even revolutionary significance.”

The opera is a chamber opera with eight singers and an orchestra of 13 musicians – a cast that fits perfectly into the atmospheric Helsingør Theater in Den Gamle By, Aarhus. As always at the Aarhus Summer Opera, the performance will be sung in Danish to better reach the audience.

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

Composer: Benjamin Britten

Libretto: Ronald Duncan

Director: Freja Friberg Lyme

Conductor: David Riddell

Scenographer: Olga Regitze Dyrløv Høegh

The Danish Sinfonietta

Please note: The opera will be performed in Danish in Sejr Volmer-Sørensen's translation

Lucretia: Nana Bugge Rasmussen

Female Chorus: Signe Asmussen Manuitt

Male Chorus: Michael Kristensen

Tarquinius: Thomas Storm

Collatinus: Jens Bruno Hansen

Junius: Lucas Bruun de Neergaard

Bianca: Bolette Bruno Hansen

Lucia: Berit Barfred-Christensen