Helen Charlston mezzo soprano
Natalie Haynes stand-up classicist
Britten Sinfonia
John Woolrich Ulysses Awakes
Charpentier "Quel prix de mon amour" from Médée
Haydn Cantata: Arianna a Naxos
Stravinsky Apollon musagète
Britten Phaedra
Music from three centuries inspired by ancient Greek mythology, interspersed with brilliantly insightful and witty commentary from the acclaimed classicist, author, broadcaster and "reformed comedian" Natalie Haynes.
50 years after the death of Benjamin Britten and the premiere of the work, the sublime and charismatic mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston is the soloist in his late micro-opera Phaedra. The contrasts between Phaedra's fury at her obsession with her stepson and the heartfelt expressions of her love for him are darkly and brilliantly conveyed in this condensed masterpiece.
“Hell hath no fury" is also the mood in Charpentier's opera about Medea and Haydn's depiction of Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus, also sung by Charlston, while male protagonists fare better in Stravinsky's ballet music and Woolrich's atmospheric re-write of a Monteverdi aria.
The stories may be tragic, but in the company of Natalie Haynes (A Thousand Ships; BBC Radio 4's Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics) there will be tears of laughter too, with the doomed woman stereotype providing plenty of provocative material.
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