Published: 04 November 2011
Category: Artists

Students of New York’s Juilliard School present the US premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s opera Kommilitonen! in performances on 16, 18, and 20 November 2011. Co-commissioned by Juilliard and London’s Royal Academy of Music, the work features a libretto by acclaimed opera director and librettist David Pountney who directed the work’s world premiere in London in March 2011.

With the title translating as “fellow students”, Kommilitonen! was written specifically to be performed by students. The plot consists of three interlocking stories of students involved in political action crossing several 20th century generations, time-zones and cultures: protest against the Nazis in 1940’s Germany; struggling against oppression during the Chinese Cultural Revolution; and fighting racial prejudice in 1960’s America.

Sir Peter commented “I especially enjoy working with the young singers rising to the challenges of this project. I can’t resist such a wonderful opportunity and am grateful to the Principal for the support I have been shown. My new opera deals with brave students who stood up for what they believed in and triggers a wonderful example of adversity. It is very educational, probes deeply into the human psyche, and shows we should never under-estimate young people.”

UPDATE: Kommilitonen! is reviewed by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times:

"There are many impressive things about “Kommilitonen!,” the new opera by Peter Maxwell Davies, with a libretto by David Pountney, which had its American premiere at the Juilliard School on Wednesday night. Best of all is Mr. Davies’s exhilarating score. Here, for once, is a modern opera that exudes musical modernism. The spirited conductor Anne Manson drew an incisive, colorful performance of this demanding score from the Juilliard Orchestra."

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