Written in 1946, Britten’s chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia is an intimate portrayal of a personal tragedy with historic consequences, set against a backdrop of war.
The iconic tale of the last Prince of Rome’s assault on the virtuous Lucretia makes for a piece of darkly dramatic and morally ambiguous theatre, its searing intensity heightened by Britten’s music: dramatic, lyrical, and perfectly suited to a cast drawn from the country’s top young singers, British Youth Opera.