Opera in Three Acts by Benjamin Britten | Sung in English

A Midsummer’s Night Dream is called an “ingenious and subtle evocation of Shakespeare’s play”. Benjamin Britten’s magical opera contains some of the composer’s most inventive music, as well as providing a parody of operatic conventions. The work is considered to be one of the best and most successful opera adaptations of Shakespeare. His music evokes the multiple worlds of the original play focusing on three parallel stories: the trials of two sets of lovers camping in a magical forest, the world of the Fairy King and Queen, and a group of rough craftsmen attempting to stage a production of “Pyramus and Thisby” for the wedding of the Duke of Athens.

Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. To escape the arranged marriage, they elope into the woods. Demetrius follows them and is pursued by Helena, who nurses an unrequited passion for him. A love quadrangle develops among them when mischievous Puck plays Cupid. Meanwhile, a group of amateur actors rehearses a badly written play in the woods and soon all find their lives changed by the acts of Oberon and Titania, the warring king and queen of the fairies. Magic, action, love and humour are the ingredients for this unforgettable spell. Will love win out in the end?

Leslie Dala | Conductor
Nancy Hermiston | Director
Members of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra
Presented in cooperation with Vancouver Opera