In Tuesday’s (8/18) Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), Eric Harrison writes that Karen Griebling, a violinist with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, “believes Britain’s 15th-century King Richard III has gotten a very raw deal [by] William Shakespeare, who depicted Richard … as a scheming, conniving, murderous hunchbacked villain who was justly overthrown and killed in the 1485 Battle of Bosworth…. Griebling tries to set Richard’s record straight in her full-length, four-act opera, Richard III: A Crown of Roses, A Crown of Thorns.” A concert version featuring ten scenes from the opera will be performed Saturday. “Geoffrey Robson, associate conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, will conduct the singers and a couple of dozen members of the orchestra. The performance takes place on the 530th anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth…. [Griebling] describes the music as having a ‘contemporary harmonic palette,’ much richer than the medieval/Renaissance norm, but which evokes ‘the spirit of the 15th century’ through various period techniques and quotations of period tunes.” Collaborators include co-producer Matthew K. Tatus, who also sings the title role; and singers from Opera in the Rock, the University of Central Arkansas, Hendrix College, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Posted August 20, 2015
