Gian Carlo Menotti’s sparkling one-act radio opera The Old Maid and The Thief, forms the centrepiece of an evening of American music curated by musicians of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Written as the first Opera specifically for radio in 1939, this witty tale of small-town intrigue, gossip and deception is paired with Barber’s radiant Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Gershwin’s Three Preludes for Piano and more to complete an evening of trans-atlantic mid-century elegance and charm.

Full Programme

Knoxville: Summer of 1915 ​​​Samuel Barber

​Elissa Street - Soprano

8 Poems of Emily Dickinson​​ Aaron Copland

​III. The World Feels Dusty

​VII. Going to Heaven

​VIII. The Chariot

Three Preludes for Piano​​​ George Gershwin

​Alex Wyatt - Piano

- Interval -

The Old Maid and the Thief ​​​Gian Carlo Menotti

Miss Todd - Elissa Street

Bob - William Swinnerton

Laetitia - Phoebe Curcher

Miss Pinkerton - Millie Royle

Musicians from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Conductor - Tom Hawkey-Soar

Piano - Alex Wyatt

Ticket details to follow.