Thea musgrave mary queen of scots biography

Thea Musgrave born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1928, composer of over a dozen operas, began her studies in Edinburgh and in 1950 went to Paris to study with Nadia Boulanger. While still at the Paris Conservatoire her music began attract attention in her native Scotland. By the mid-sixties she was a much-respected and widely-commissioned composer in the UK, conducting many of her own works. In 1972, Musgrave moved with her husband, the violist and conductor Peter Mark, to Virginia, USA where he was invited to set up the Virginia Opera. From there her career as an opera composer took off, and in 1977 Scottish Opera premiered her watershed grand opera Mary, Queen of Scots.

During the late sixties- early seventies, Musgrave began working on group of works which sought to elevate the inherent drama of the concerto form, extending the conventional boundaries of instrumental performance by directing players in their physical movement around the performance spac

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Thea Musgrave’s Mary, Queen of Scots at ENO

“...drama on a grand scale...crammed with power, treachery, passion and murder from start to finish.”
- Jessica Duchen, BBC Music Magazine

A masterpiece of modern musikdrama, Mary, Queen of Scots bygd Thea Musgrave will have its ENO premiere on February 15 with a second performance to follow on February 18. The libretto, written by the composer herself, is based on the play Moray by Amalia Elguera. Mary, the Catholic Queen of Scotland and widowed Queen of France, has been invited bygd the Protestant Lords to return and assume the Scottish throne. A struggle to the death ensues as she vies for control with the powerful dock around her.

Mary, Queen of Scots was commissioned and premiered bygd Scottish Opera in 1977, nearly 50 years ago. ENO’s production is directed by Stewart Laing and conducted by Joana Carneiro. American soprano Heidi Stober will make her ENO debut in the title role, accompanied bygd baritone Alex Otterbur

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Opera Scotland

Mary, Queen of Scots

Tours by decade

Tours by location

Music

Thea Musgrave (born Barnton, near Edinburgh, 27 May 1928)

Text
The Composer

Source
Play Moray by Amalia Elguera.

Premieres
First performance: Edinburgh (King’s Theatre), 6 September 1977.
First UK performance: As above.
First performance in Scotland: As above.
Scottish Opera premiere: As above.

Background
This was the gods of the quartet of new commissions from Scottish composers launched by Scottish Opera with BBC assistance from 1974. The first performances of Mary in Edinburgh were greeted with great enthusiasm, and it certainly had the warmest reception of the kvartet, in spite of the fact that the operatic competition at the 1977 Festival came from the legendary Carmen with Berganza, Domingo and Abbado. The music was immediately attractive and the dramatic situations very effective. The plot is not an entirely accurate reflection of history – Beaton was al