James Newby

Brett Dean's multi-award-winning opera received its world premiere at Glyndebourne Festival 2017. The world premiere recording of Brett Deans new opera based on Shakespeares best-known tragedy: To be, or not to be. This is Hamlets dilemma, and the essence of Shakespeares most famous and arguably greatest work, given new life in operatic form in this original Glyndebourne commission. Thoughts of murder and revenge drive Hamlet when he learns that it was his uncle Claudius who killed his father, the King of Denmark, then seized his fathers crown and wife. But Hamlets vengeance vies with the question: is suicide a morally valid deed in an unbearably painful world?

When a young boy is put on the train in the direction of Auschwitz, his fate seems sealed. But when his mother pushes him off the train, he manages to escape and carve out a new life for himself. Inspired by the true story of Simon Gronowski who was pushed off the train from Mechelen to Auschwitz by his mother in Boortmeerbeek, Belgium, in 1943, Howard Moody has composed an opera bringing together professional musicians and amateur performers – both adults and children – in a unique theatrical experience.