Salvatore Sciarrino The Killing Flower Music Theatre Wales, Buxton Opera House

Sciarrino's two-act chamber opera Luci mie traditrici is based on the true story of Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo's brutal murder of his wife and her lover. Numerous composers in the last 50 years or so have been sufficiently fascinated by Gesualdo to write works based on his life or music, including seven operas appearing in the last two decades. Sciarrino based his libretto on a drama written only 50 years after Gesualdo's death by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini. This UK premiere conducted by Michael Rafferty was given at the Buxton Festival by Music Theatre Wales, translated into English by Paola Loreto (and set to the music by Kit Hesketh-Harvey) as The Killing Flower.