6.4
Skin
2009
Powder Her Face (1999)
December 25, 19991h 50mEN
Overview
Penned by composer Thomas Ades, this contemporary opera is based on the life of the Duchess of Argyll (played by Mary Plazas), who's fallen on hard times in old age. A notoriously oversexed money-grubber in her younger days, the down-and-out duchess faces eviction from the hotel she calls home. Heather Buck, Daniel Norman and Graeme Broadbent also star in this uninhibited production, with Ades conducting the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.
Director
Margaret WilliamsWriter
Top Billed Cast
Status
Released
Original Language
EN
Budget
N/A
Revenue
N/A
Production Companies
Birmingham contemporary music group
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User Reviews
pj38320
Thomas Adès wrote the chamber opera Powder Her Face in 1995, at the age of 24, to a joint commission from London's Almeida Opera and the Cheltenham Festival. Its success, together with a string of other compositions, brought Adès real international recognition and resulted in him being hailed as the next Benjamin Britten. Since its première, it has been produced in America, Australia and throughout Europe, repeatedly generating press excitement. To a libretto by Philip Hensher, the piece is based on the life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, a woman brazenly avaricious for money and sexual ex…
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