The Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School co-commission a new opera by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

Opera's world premiere takes place at the Royal Academy of Music in London, February 22, 24, 26, and March 1, 2010; U.S. premiere takes place at The Juilliard School in New York City on April 21, 23, and 25, 2010

The Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School have announced the co-commissioning of a major new full-length opera by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, entitled Kommilitonen. The libretto is written by David Pountney, who has collaborated on projects over the years with Sir Peter.

The opera will be premiered by the students of Royal Academy Opera at the Royal Academy of Music in London on February 22, 24 and 26 and March 1, 2010, directed by David Pountney and conducted by Nicholas Kok. The Juilliard School presents the opera’s U.S. premiere April 21, 23, and 25, 2010, in a production honoring the 50th Anniversary of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Mr. Pountney also directs the U.S. premiere with Anne Manson conducting the Juilliard Orchestra and featuring Juilliard Opera singers.

The opera features three interlocking stories — crossing generations, time-zones and cultures
— about three groups of students who are involved in political action:
> the activities of Die Weisse Rose, a group of students at the University of Munich who produced leaflets protesting against the National Socialist government in 1942/3.
> the lives of two characters, Wu and Zhou, who are involved on opposite sides of the Cultural Revolution.
> James Meredith’s lonely battle against segregation and racial prejudice to become the first black student to enroll in the University of Mississippi, ‘Ole Miss’, in 1962.

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is a University of London Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, where he works regularly with student composers and performers. He is universally acknowledged as one of the foremost composers of our time. He has written across the widest gamut of musical genre, and in many styles. The power to communicate forcefully and directly with his audiences always manifests itself, whether it be in his profoundly argued symphonic works, the delightful music-theater works written to be performed by non-specialist children or his sometimes outrageous witty light orchestra works.

Maxwell Davies’ major operas include Taverner, Resurrection, The Lighthouse, and The Doctor of Myddfai; full-length ballets Salome and Caroline Mathilde; and the music-theater work Mr. Emmet Takes a Walk and Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot. His orchestral works include eight symphonies, fourteen concertos, several light orchestral works, including An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise and Mavis in Las Vegas, five large-scale works for chorus including the oratorio Job. Chamber music includes the landmark cycle of ten string quartets commissioned by Naxos (called the Naxos Quartets). In 2008-09, a number of new chamber and choral works have been premiered at festivals including the Cheltenham Festival, City of London Festival, and St. Magnus Festival. Maxwell Davies is also internationally active as a conductor, having held the position of composer/conductor with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic, and is the composer laureate of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has guest conducted both in Europe and in the United States.

In recent years the Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School have forged an ever-closer relationship through a diverse series of projects in which students learn, work and perform together. Academy and Juilliard musicians have collaborated in a critically-acclaimed BBC Proms performance with Sir Colin Davis; a concert with Sir Elton John at Radio City Music Hall; and performances and recording, by the New Juilliard Ensemble together with the Academy’s Manson Ensemble, of music composed by students from both institutions. The next collaboration between the Academy and Juilliard will be a concert at Wigmore Hall on Tuesday, March 3, 2009, featuring string soloists from both conservatories performing works by Elgar, Copland, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich, directed by Clio Gould.

The Juilliard School established this country’s standard for education in the performing arts, beginning with music in 1905. In 1951, its Dance Division was established, with combined training in contemporary and ballet technique. Juilliard became part of Lincoln Center in 1968, when it also added a four-year drama program. In 2001, Juilliard broke new ground with the addition of its first jazz program; a graduate program in Historical Performance begins in 2010. Juilliard is undergoing a major expansion and renovation project and adding approximately 39,000 square feet of additional space in and around the building. More than 800 young artists from 44 states (plus Washington, DC) and 46 foreign countries attend Juilliard. For more information, visit Juilliard’s Web site at www.juilliard.edu.

The Royal Academy of Music in central London has prepared musicians for successful, versatile and resourceful careers in music since 1822. Academy musicians study for University of London degrees in instrumental performance, composition, jazz, musical theatre and opera. The Academy’s close-knit student community is truly international, with over 50 countries represented. Royal Academy Opera is the Academy’s specialist and intensive postgraduate course for students who have the potential and aspirations to succeed as operatic principals at the highest international standard.