Peter Grimes relations with his apprentice to be bordering on paederastic, Pears persuaded Slater to cut the questionable stanzas from the final version. The opera was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Music Foundations and is "dedicated to the memory of Natalie Koussevitzky", wife of the Russian-born American conductor Serge Koussevitzky. When Joan Cross, who was then manager of the Sadler's Wells company, announced her intention to re-open Sadler's Wells Theatre with "Peter Grimes" with herself and Peter Pears in the leading roles, there were many complaints from company members about supposed favouritism and the "" of Britten's score. Yet when "Peter Grimes" opened
The Peony Pavilion (opera) for Part Two. The Peony Pavilion (opera) The Peony Pavilion is a 1998 production by Peter Sellars, in a mix of Chinese and English translation, of the Ming Dynasty play "The Peony Pavilion". Part One is an avant-garde staging of the traditional Kunqu form of Chinese opera's staging of the play, which is how the play is usually performed in China. Part Two is a specially-composed two-hour opera by Tan Dun, mixing Chinese and western forms and instruments. Sony Classics released a 1998 CD, "" sung in English by Ying Huang and the New York Virtuoso Singers based on portions