Colin Graham

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Colin Graham , OBE (born September 22, 1931 in Hove , Sussex , England ; † April 6, 2007 in St. Louis , USA ) was an internationally recognized British opera director and opera director who also worked for theater and television . He staged more than 50 world premieres.

Live and act

Graham attended the Stowe School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art . As early as the 1950s he began an intensive collaboration with the composer Benjamin Britten , most of whose operas he premiered. His interest in Japanese theater later led him to Tokyo to study with the composer Minoru Miki , for whom he staged three operas. He also worked for the Royal Opera House and the English National Opera in London and the Glyndebourne Festival in Sussex before moving to St. Louis in 1978.

Graham staged the world premieres of John Corigliano 's The Ghosts of Versailles for the Metropolitan Opera , André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire for the San Francisco Opera and Bright Sheng's The Song of Majnun for the Lyric Opera of Chicago . In addition, he directed productions for the Santa Fe Opera , including Sheng's Madame Mao in 2003. There he continued his collaboration with the general manager Richard Gaddes , which he had started in St. Louis.

From 1985 until his death, Graham was Artistic Director of the Opera Theater of Saint Louis . According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper , he died of heart failure on April 6, 2007. One day before his death, he was still working on the imminent premiere of David Carlson's opera Anna Karenina , for which he had also written the libretto. Graham leaves no offspring.

Works

Graham also wrote the librettos for the following operas:

  • Stephen Paulus, The Postman Always Rings Twice , 1982
  • Minoru Miki, Joruri
  • Minoru Miki, The Tale of Genji , 1999
  • Bright Sheng, Madame Mao , 2003
  • David Carlson, Anna Karenina , 2007

credentials

  1. ^ Sarah Bryan Miller, "Colin Graham Dies at 75". St. Louis Post-Dispatch , 7 April 2007.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.stltoday.com  
  2. ^ Bernard Holland, "A Novel Of Lust Becomes An Opera". New York Times , July 2, 1998.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Graham, Colin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British opera director and opera director
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Hove
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 2007
Place of death St. Louis