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 Letter (opera) the publisher. On July 14, Teachout began "livetweeting" from rehearsals for "The Letter" on his Twitter page. He posted about "The Letter" there and on his blog between then and the opera's premiere. The premiere featured soprano Patricia Racette and baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore (who appeared in Santa Fe's 2008 "Falstaff"). The two appeared together in the Metropolitan Opera's new 2008 production of "Peter Grimes". The production was directed by British theatre and opera director, Jonathan Kent, whose work has been seen in Santa Fe several times (notably in the 2008 "The Marriage of Figaro") and conducted by Patrick Summers of