Julian Joseph's opera premiere at London's Barbican Centre

Sholto Byrnes reports about the opera project "Bridgetower. A Fable of London in 1807" by the British pianist Julian Joseph ( The Independent ). The opera's subject is the life of the British violin virtuoso George Bridgetower, the son of a former slave from Barbados. Bridgetower had studied with Haydn and befriended Beethoven while touring Germany in 1802. Bridgetower had premiered Beethoven's Kreutzer-Sonata which the composer had dedicated to him originally but, when they fell out over a woman, rededicated to the violinist Rudolph Kreutzer (who at first declared the piece unplayable). Joseph's opera makes use of jazz musicians as well as singers from the field of jazz and classical music. The colors come from jazz, says the composer, and there is enough room for improvisation. But there are also chorales and atonal passages. The libretto was written by Mike Phillips who points out that the subject is important as "a real corrective to the racist nonsense on both sides": You don't have to become a rapper when you're black, and you don't have to believe in exclusive cultures when you're white. The premiere of the opera is on July 7-9 at London's Barbican Centre.