From Germany to New York City to England, scholars and musicians are honoring what would have been British-American composer Benjamin Britten’s 100th birthday on Nov. 22.
The festivities come to UCLA this week through LA Opera conductor and UCLA Regents’ lecturer James Conlon. Putting Britten’s modern literary operas in perspective through his keynote address this Thursday, Conlon will analyze the relationship between “Benjamin Britten and Literature” at the Young Research Library.
Conlon, a multiple Grammy Award-winning conductor for his work on a recent revival of Bertolt Brecht’s “City of Mahogony,” knows the subject well: he has conducted full-length operas at the Met, La Scala and the Paris Opera House, among many other international music venues.
Sponsored by the UCLA departments of Musicology and Comparative Literature, Thursday’s talk will include Britten’s operas, mainly “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Death in Venice.”
“This conference aims to look at some of the most important vocal music by Britten that’s based on literature, and examine how the opera adds something special that the book, story or poem alone cannot,” saidKenneth Reinhard, professor of English and comparative literature at UCLA.
Reinhard has been a driving force behind the popular interdisciplinary program with the LA Opera, a collaboration that draws attention to the literary roots of some of the world’s greatest musical works.
Britten was born in England on the feast day of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music. He composed his first opera, which was based on the American folk hero Paul Bunyan, when his family and his partner, tenor saxophonist Peter Pears, moved to the United States in 1939. Britten went on to compose a number of works based on American and English literary masterpieces, including Shakespeare’s “Dream” as well as James’ “The Turn of the Screw” and Mann’s “Death In Venice.”
Thursday’s series of lectures begins at 1 p.m. and continues on Friday afternoon. The conference will feature insights from such distinguished Britten scholars as Ryan Minor (Stonybrook University), Christopher Chowrimootoo (Notre Dame), Heather Wiebe (King’s College London), Arman Schwartz (Birmingham), Jonathan Neufeld (the College of Charleston), Seth Brodsky (Chicago) and Mitchell Morris (UCLA).
“It’s always a great treat to have Maestro Conlon with us,” said Neal Stulberg, UCLA’s director of orchestral studies. “He works intensively with the orchestra and has also given master classes for our student singers.”
In November, Conlon conducted UCLA’s Camarades String Ensemble as it performed three Britten compositions to mark the centenary of the composer’s birth. Thursday night’s homage will feature Conlon’s appreciation of Britten’s significant contribution to world music.
“We are very fortunate to have an ongoing relationship with this great conductor,” Stulberg said, who has conducted at the LA Philharmonic and many of Europe’s top orchestras. “I look forward to many more collaborations in the future.”
“I am very excited to hear what Maestro Conlon thinks about how the literary elements reinforce the music,” said Andréa Collins, a fourth-year English student who attended both of Conlon’s previous lectures on Britten’s work. “An eloquent speaker, his knowledge of the ways music and literature interact is always very compelling.”
LA Opera’s three-year celebration of Britten’s 100th birthday will conclude with a performance of “Billy Budd” later this month.
“UCLA’s continuing relationship with Los Angeles leading opera company is really quite unique,” Reinhard said. “As far as I know, no other major university has a relationship like the one we have with LA Opera. It’s quite wonderful.”
Reinhard said that there are going to be remarkable opportunities for students to intern and do other pre-professional projects with LA Opera in the future, ranging from writing and designing exhibits for the Music Center to becoming directly involved in productions. These opportunities also may include researching and suggesting topics for future works by the LA Opera.
Reinhard said that Conlon is a very unusual kind of a conductor. “He puts so much energy and enthusiasm (into his work); he really gets people excited about coming to the opera.”
“It is a completely different experience if, (like me), you have never been introduced to opera,” said Jannette Serrano, a fourth-year English student who attended both of Conlon’s earlier lectures on Britten.“Expect to be in awe.”