Opera North pairs Mascagni’s masterpiece with teenage Rachmaninov in a potent double bill. Plus, well-tuned extremes from Tenebrae and a blizzard of notes with Mahan Esfahani
English composer Benjamin Britten is writing The Turn of the Screw. Based on a novella by Henry James, it follows the worries of a young governess sent to the countryside to take care of a pair of children. As Britten is building his melodies, the government is working hard to shut down the influence of what they call “high profile homosexuals’’ (think John Gielgud and friends). With the threat of governmental intervention into the private lives of many men, Britten’s behaviour risks drawing too much attention. That’s when he meets David Hemmings, a 12-year-old choirboy whom he takes under his wing and invites into the home he shares with his partner Peter Pears.