Jane Eyre: a world premiere concert-performance of the opera by John Joubert

Ruddock Performing Arts Centre
King Edward's School Edgbaston Park Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2UA
United Kingdom
0121 472 9585
http://www.ruddockpac.co.uk/index.html

English Symphony Orchestra
Kenneth Woods, Conductor
April Fredrick, Soprano - as Jane Eyre
David Stout, Baritone - as Rochester
with full supporting cast



Since its first publication in 1847, Charlotte Bronte’s fatalistic masterpiece ‘Jane Eyre’ has inspired countless re-readings and retellings.

Now, marking Bronte’s 200th anniversary and his own 90th birthday, the revered British composer John Joubert will finally see the world premiere concert and recording of Jane Eyre, his long-awaited third opera.

The unforgettable tale of an obsessive love threatened by an unutterable secret, the opera has been more than 20 years in the gestation. It is, says conductor Kenneth Woods, “Joubert’s undoubted magnum opus”.

With a single public showing as an amateur production some years ago, Joubert has since substantially revised it for this official world premiere, but the idea had taken root as far back as 1969. That’s when, while writing his song-cycle, ‘Six Poems of Emily Bronte’, he was drawn into the world of the Bronte sisters and, inexorably, ‘Jane Eyre’. The result is a major operatic work, with a score of translucent beauty, of foreboding; suffused with a sense of the destiny that may hold terrors, may hold love – but may not be withheld.

“Those words did not die inarticulate on your lips. I heard them clear and soft: a thought too solemn perhaps, but sweet as music...” – Edward Rochester, ‘Jane Eyre’

Further information:
www.eso.co.uk/jane-eyre-the-opera

English Symphony Orchestra: The International Orchestra of Elgar Country
www.eso.co.uk

Somm Recordings
http://www.somm-recordings.com




John Joubert : Jane Eyre - an opera in two acts