Comments on: Degrees of Invention

By: A Harrison Birtwistle Playlist • VAN Magazine

A Harrison Birtwistle Playlist • VAN Magazine — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 13:54:17 +0000

[…] recording with the late Oliver Knussen, who conducted musicians from the Royal Academy of Music; George Benjamin played the devil. On the same disc Birtwistle’s “Tombeau – In Memoriam Igor Stravinsky” […]

By: Continental Shift • VAN Magazine

Continental Shift • VAN Magazine — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 14:10:21 +0000

[…] played, I don’t always need to promote stuff that’s already being promoted. For example, I love George Benjamin, and I do his music, but I don’t do it a lot, mainly because I feel it’s presented enough. My […]

By: Bursting Through Confines • VAN Magazine

Bursting Through Confines • VAN Magazine — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 17:21:16 +0000

[…] how to accompany the work into its life.” The Aix Festival incubated “Written on Skin,” by George Benjamin, one of a vanishingly small number of contemporary operas that have entered the […]

By: Buried Treasure • VAN Magazine

Buried Treasure • VAN Magazine — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 17:16:44 +0000

[…] and reactive in a way that meant I was unlikely to look beyond “hip” contemporary operas by George Benjamin and Nico Muhly when buying tickets. Through the Aldeburgh Festival’s production of “Peter […]

By: Sudden Shattering • VAN Magazine

Sudden Shattering • VAN Magazine — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 17:12:29 +0000

[…] role of John/Angel III in George Benjamin’s “Written on Skin” was originally composed with you in mind. Were there any plans for you to […]

By: The Core • VAN Magazine

The Core • VAN Magazine — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 17:10:30 +0000

[…] George Benjamin’s “Three Inventions” is a pure and sensual pleasure for me that works in a way almost opposite to the pleasure I take when I listen to Philip Glass. I would not necessarily have Benjamin on while I’m walking around or on the subway. This is something for sitting and listening closely to on my headphones. […]

By: Natural Consequences • VAN Magazine

Natural Consequences • VAN Magazine — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 17:08:00 +0000

[…] and direct, with a chameleon-like ability to remain subtly expressive in music from Handel to George Benjamin’s opera “Written on Skin,” in which Mead sings a queasily erotic and effective Boy. When I […]

By: Broken Heartbeat • VAN Magazine

Broken Heartbeat • VAN Magazine — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 17:03:12 +0000

[…] George Benjamin’s opera “Written On Skin” telescopes back and forth through past and present. Based on a vida of the 12th century Catalan troubadour Guillaume de Cabestanh, it takes place in a medieval world where books are precious objects, but references air travel, pornography, and modern feminism. The work, which premiered three years ago, makes a motive of the passage of time. But how has the passage of time affected the work? […]