Featured in the New York Times
Robbie Guthrie
We are thrilled to highlight a new feature published today in The New York Times, celebrating Thea’s extraordinary career and enduring artistic impact ahead of the San Francisco Opera’s new production of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The article highlights the variety of her distinguished catalogue, from groundbreaking orchestral works exploring the dramatic abstract to poignant, theatrical operas, and celebrates her contributions to contemporary classical music.
Quick summary:
At 98, composer Thea Musgrave is still evolving. Reporter Hugh Morris profiles her ahead of the San Francisco Opera's production of her 1977 opera Mary, Queen of Scots, opening this week — a work about the power struggles surrounding the Scottish crown that director Stewart Laing calls strikingly current in its portrait of a woman negotiating power in a male-dominated world.
"Finding dramatic logic in instrumental music, became the central quest of her musical life and a defining characteristic of her tense musical language."
Morris traces Musgrave's path from a childhood in Scotland through study with Nadia Boulanger to a breakthrough moment: a vivid dream about a rebellious clarinetist that became her "Concerto for Orchestra." The piece captures her collaborative process too, including recent work with bassoonist Amy Harman on a new concerto, and closes with Musgrave's next opera, "Orlando," premiering in 2027.
Read the full feature now on the New York Times website.
Photo: Adali Schell for NYT