Peter Grimes

SEB presents

Concert performance of Benjamin Britten’s opera on September 26 and 28, 2025 in the Estonian National Opera
Libretto by Montagu Slater after George Crabbe’s poem “The Borough” 
World premiere in Sadler’s Wells on June 7, 1945

Music Director and Conductor: Arvo Volmer

For the first time in Estonia, the Estonian National Opera presents a concert performance of Benjamin Britten’s psychological thriller “Peter Grimes”. This powerful opera is considered one of the cornerstones of 20th-century English music theatre and showcases Britten’s brilliant ability to explore the depths of human emotion and societal conflict.

In the psychological thriller “Peter Grimes,” Britten gives a voice to a man who does not fit into a community that has no tolerance for differences. Who is Peter Grimes? A murderer? A hapless victim of a small community’s prejudice and the all-powerful sea? A poet? 

In a close-knit coastal community, fisherman Peter Grimes is acquitted of murdering his young apprentice. But although the court has pronounced him innocent, the local inhabitants continue to judge him. With only the local teacher Ellen Orford by his side, Peter Grimes finds himself haunted by rumours and suspicion, struggling with inner demons and the enmity of the local community.

The opera’s music paints hauntingly vivid images of the sea’s power, human emotion, love, and fear.
 

Cast:

Peter Grimes, a fisherman: Timothy Richards (Wales)
Ellen Orford, schoolmistress of the Borough, widow: Charlotte-Anne Shipley (UK)
Captain Balstrode, retired merchant skipper: Paul Carey Jones (Wales/Ireland)
“Auntie”, landlady of “The Boar”: Aule Urb
Mrs. Sedley, widow: Tuuri Dede
“Niece” 1: Kadri Nirgi
“Niece” 2: Janne Ševtšenko
Swallow, a lawyer: Raiko Raalik
Ned Keene, apothecary and quack: Pavlo Balakin
Hobson, carrier: Dragos Andrei Ionel
Bob Boles: Mart Madiste
Horace Adams, the rector: Heldur Harry Põlda