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English Touring Opera's Critically Acclaimed Production of Kurt Weill's The Silver Lake

Nov. 01, 2019

English Touring Opera's Critically Acclaimed Production of Kurt Weill's <em>The Silver Lake</em>

The Silver Lake – A Winter’s Tale (Der Silbersee) was Kurt Weill’s last work performed in Germany before the production was closed down by Nazi authorities in 1933. It was also Weill’s final collaboration with poetic playwright Georg Kaiser. The English Touring Opera’s current production, conducted by Weill specialist James Holmes and directed by ETO’s James Conway, is on tour through November 15. The Independent gave the production four stars calling it, “A larger than life performance of a show that could hardly be more topical.”

The deeply allegorical story, set against a backdrop of hunger and class conflict, centers on the struggle between two men—one poor and one rich—whose fates become inextricably bound. Der Silbersee is a genre-defying work that lies somewhere between a play and an opera – as Weill put it, “a play with well-integrated musical numbers, somewhat along the lines of a Singspiel.” Weill’s score includes solo songs, duets, choruses, melodramas, and instrumental interludes that oscillate between popular and serious music.

The late Maestro Julius Rudel and director Harold Prince championed Der Silbersee by presenting an adaptation (“Silverlake”) at New York City Opera in 1980. A recording of the production was later released by Nonesuch.


(Preview of the English Touring Opera's Production of Kurt Weill's The Silver Lake - A Winter's Tale)

To learn more about Kurt Weill, visit kwf.org or schott-music.com 

Kurt Weill
Der Silbersee (The Silver Lake) (1932-1933)
A Winter’s Tale in three acts
book and lyrics (Ger) by Georg Kaiser
for three sopranos, mezzo-soprano, three tenors, three baritones, two basses and SATB chorus
2.1.2.1-0.2.2.0-timp.perc-hp.pno-str
70’