4 days to the Peter Grimes premiere!

Read the second part of an interview with Anthony Dean Griffey who talks about singing the title role in Britten’s opera.

On Peter Grimes role models
I sang the role for the very first time 12 years ago as a student at Tanglewood for the 50th anniversary of the American premiere, which took place in Tanglewood. Many people said to me, “Who did you mold your Peter Grimes after? Was it John Vickers, or Peter Pears, or Anthony Rolfe Johnson, or Philip Langridge?” And I said, Honestly, I didn’t see any of their performances. I have such respect for all of those artists, but as an artist myself, I always take what the composer and the librettist give and make the role my own. I think it’s important—people don’t want to see a carbon copy of something that happened twenty years ago. That’s what made the great singers great artists, it was their own individuality. It’s important to bring your own special ingredients, so to speak, to the recipe to spice it up.

On the opera’s social message
It’s a piece that I believe in 110 percent. It’s a piece not just for opera lovers, but for people who are not regular theatergoers. And it’s also a wonderful first opera for people to see because it’s so accessible. Everyone can relate to the character of Peter Grimes, of being an outcast, of having judgment placed upon you, of the hypocrisy of society, and it has all these things in it. I think it’s an important work on a musical level, but on a social level it’s even more important because it has such a strong, strong message that society needs to see and hear.

This entry was posted by Philipp Brieler on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 6:06 am and is filed under Peter Grimes, New Production Countdown. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.