Composer of the Week

Donald Macleod continues his exploration of Verdi's operas with Don Carlos, an epic tale of thwarted love that poses epic problems for directors. The historical Don Carlos was a tortured, tragic and misshapen young man in 16th-century Spain. Verdi's grand operatic version of his life, based, not for the first time, on a play by Schiller, turned out to have one of the most tortuous and protracted histories in all opera. As a result there are no fewer than eight possible 'authentic' versions of the score, so for anyone putting on a production of Don Carlos, it's rather a case of Let's Make an Opera! Producer: Chris Barstow.