THE TURN OF THE SCREW

“It is a curious story. I have it written in faded ink – a woman’s hand, governess to two children – long ago.” Set in a haunted mansion, Henry James’s famously ambiguous short story titled The Turn of the Screw (1898) touches on themes that always inspired Benjamin Britten: childhood; innocence; uncanny, corrupting evil; along with fevered imagination. In this chamber opera, premiered at La Fenice in Venice in 1954, the orchestration – for just 13 instrumentalists – features a compelling, mystifying tone that is absolutely unprecedented. The composer blends the fresh melodies of childhood with the strange sounds of harp, celesta and glockenspiel, heralding the irruption of fantasy into the real world. Are orphans Miles and Flora truly bewitched by the ghosts of depraved former servants? Or are these merely the fantasies of their governess? Does the specter of the sinister Peter Quint exist? Britten maintains the mystery through his remarkable sense of drama. This is one of the secrets behind the magic of his music, which, as in all his operas, probes the soul to the point of the inexpressible.

Richard Brunel’s thrilling, highly cinematic production will drive the investigation forward and bring the suspense of this closed-door drama to a fever pitch. The Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne will perform under the baton of Australian conductor Alexander Briger, a renowned specialist of this masterpiece.