Brief Encounter (opera) explained

Brief Encounter is an opera in two acts by composer André Previn. The English libretto by John Caird is based on Noël Coward's play Still Life and Coward's screenplay for the 1945 David Lean film Brief Encounter. Commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera, the opera premiered on May 1, 2009 in Houston, Texas at the Wortham Theater Center.

The production starred Elizabeth Futral as Laura Jesson and Nathan Gunn as Alec Harvey, with Rebekah Camm, Meredith Arwady, Robert Orth, and Kim Josephson as supporting soloists and Patrick Summers conducting.^[1] A recording was issued on the Deutsche Grammophon label.^[2]

Further reading

• Frédéric Döhl: About the Task of Adapting a Movie Classic for the Opera Stage: On André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire (1998) and Brief Encounter (2009). In: Frédéric Döhl & Gregor Herzfeld (edits.): In Search of the Great American Opera: Tendenzen des amerikanischen Musiktheaters, Münster 2016, p. 147–175.
• Frédéric Döhl: Brief Encounter: Zu David Leans Film (1945) and André Previns Oper (2009). In Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 70/4 (2013), .

External links

• Brief Encounter at houstongrandopera.org

Notes and References

1. Web site: Review: André Previn's 'Brief Encounter' premieres in Houston. 3 May 2009. 6 October 2016.
2. Web site: PREVIN Brief Encounter Summers - Download - Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. 6 October 2016.