1984 is an opera composed by Lorin Maazel, with a libretto by J.D. McClatchy and Thomas Meehan. Maazel's first opera, it premiered on 3 May 2005 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in a production directed by Robert Lepage. The foyer of Charles Garniers Opéra, Paris, opened 1875 Opera is an art form consisting of a dramatic stage performance set to music. ... Lorin Varencove Maazel (born March 6, 1930) is a conductor, violinist and composer. ... A libretto is the body of words used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, oratorio, or musical. ... May 3 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (124th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... The Floral Hall of the Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House is a performing arts venue in London. ... Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957 in Quebec City) is a playwright, actor and film director from Quebec City, Quebec, and is one of Canadas most honored theatre artists. ...

The opera is based on George Orwell's novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. In contrast with the conventions of most operas, it casts the hero, Winston, as a baritone (sung by Simon Keenlyside at the premiere), while the lead tenor takes the role of the villain, O'Brien (sung by Richard Margison at the premiere). The part of Julia was sung by soprano Nancy Gustafson in the original production. Other individual parts in the opera include Syme, Parsons, and Charrington, a gym instructress/drunken woman, a prole woman, and a café singer. Maazel incorporates an important role for the chorus, which sings a "hate chorus" for the rallies Orwell called the Two-Minute Hate. George Orwell George Orwell was the pen name of British author Eric Arthur Blair (June 25, 1903 – January 21, 1950). ... Nineteen Eighty-Four (often 1984) is a satirical political novel written by George Orwell. ... Sir Galahad, a hero of Arthurian legend In many myths and folk tales, a hero is a man or woman (the latter often called a heroine), traditionally the protagonist of a story, legend or saga, who commonly possesses abilities or character far greater than that of a typical person, which... This is an article on the voice type. ... Simon Keenlyside is a a noted baritone opera singer from Britain. ... In music, a tenor is a male singer with a high voice (although not as high as a countertenor). ... A stereotypical villain. ... Richard Margison is a Canadian operatic tenor. ... Look up Soprano in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In music, a soprano is a singer with a voice ranging approximately from middle C to the A a thirteenth above middle C (above the treble clef). ... For the communications operator see Chorus Communications For the computer operating system see ChorusOS In classical music a chorus is any substantial group of performers in a play, revue, musical or opera who act more or less as one. ...

The work was originally intended as a joint commission by the Royal Opera House and the Tokyo Opera. The Tokyo Opera ultimately backed out, which prompted Maazel to step in and finance nearly half the costs of production personally. The company he formed for the purpose, Big Brother Productions, paid about £400,000 toward these costs. While this saved the opera from oblivion, it also led to charges that the Royal Opera House was spending taxpayer money to support a vanity project. The pound sterling, which strictly speaking refers to basic currency unit of sterling, now the pound, can generally refer to the currency of the United Kingdom (UK). ...

Maazel's foray into composing opera was met with fairly harsh reviews. New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini described the music as evoking a variety of musical styles, but concluded that Maazel's work reflected his career in conducting rather than composition, and thus failed to find his personal voice as a composer. A composer is a person who writes music. ...

External link

• Official website