Odyssey Opera to Present Boston Premiere of DIMITRIJ

Boston's most original and innovative opera company, Odyssey Opera, today announced its seasonopening performance of Antonín Dvo?ák's epic work Dimitrij, marking the opera's Boston premiere. Sung in Czech with projected English translations, this concert production is led by conductor Gil Rose, with performances bythe Odyssey Opera Orchestra and the award-winning tenor Aleš Briscein in the role of Dimitrij.

"Dimitrij is a real surprise," explains Gil Rose, Artistic and General Director of Odyssey Opera. "Dvo?ák was an underappreciated opera composer. The general public in America is unaware that he was the composer of many operas, and Dimitrij is a thoroughly engaging, and astoundingly musical opera. It is certainly one of the composer's most significant works for the stage."

Joining Rusalka in the ranks of Dvo?ák's great operatic works, Dimitrij is a masterful example of his mature compositional style. It boasts a wealth of melodic ideas, a wonderful evocation of local and period atmosphere in the extensive choral scenes, and remarkable instrumentation.

Set to libretto by Marie ?ervinková-Riegerová, Dimitrij continues the storyline depicted in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov. At the opera's center is the eponymous hero, Dimitrij, who despite his humble birth is convinced of the legitimacy of his claim as Tsar. A sympathetic, well-rounded man, Dimitrij is a character of considerable nobility, capable of great love. But feuding, plotting, betrayal, and jealousy lie between him and the throne.

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