Keith Warner's Glyndebourne staging of Samuel Barber's opera Vanessa won this year's BBC Music Magazine DVD Award and, from Saturday 16 May, will be available to stream on Marquee TV's Glyndebourne Collection.
The performance - filmed during Glyndebourne's 2018 festival season - stars Emma Bell as the eponymous role, Virginie Verrez as Erika, Edgaras Montvidas as Anatol and Rosalind Plowright as the Old Baroness. The London Philharmonic Orchestra accompany, under the baton of Jakub Hrůša.
Barber's Vanessa - first performed in 1958 - won the composer his first Pulitzer Prize. It is a tragic domestic tale, focused on the character of Vanessa, who spends 20 years waiting for the return of her former lover Anatol, before then meeting his son of the same name, with whom she then becomes infatuated. He then seduces Vanessa's niece Erika, who then falls pregnant with his child, but loses the baby. Vanessa's mother, the Baroness, looks over the proceedings, judging them all.
The DVD performance of Vanessa was initially reviewed in our September 2019 issue. Our reviewer wrote: 'Vanessa is a great American masterpiece. Here now is the production and cast that Vanessa has been waiting for'.
You can sign up to Marquee TV for a 14-day free trial to watch Vanessa. Membership to Marquee TV costs £8.99 per month or £89.99 per year, although there's currently a 30%-off deal on the annual plan.
