The 2013-2014 opera season has two very rare operas by unsung composers:
1 Bernhard Seklles, Schaharazade, Halle, premère on 30.11.2013.
2 Ethyl Smyth, The Boatswain's Mate, Luzern, premiere on 15.02.2014
Other rarities next season for opera fans include the following:
Antheil, The Brothers / Venus in Africa, Lübeck
Arrieta, The Conquest of Granada, Gießen
Dvorak, Wanda, Osnabrück
Hubay, Anna Karenina, Braunschweig (Brunswick)
Netzer, Mara, Innsbrück
How exciting, I thought, and looked for more information on The Boatswain's Mate in Lucerne - only to find that it will be done in German...
Shame about The Boatswain's Mate being done in German: ironic, when it is (I think) the first of her operas which wasn't performed in German before English. Anyway, wonderful to hear it's being done. Any chance anyone will be recording it? It's the one of her works I most want to hear that I haven't.
Smyth does seem to have a bit of a following in Germany still, unlike most British composers: some of her Lieder and a lot of chamber works were recorded over there. However, she remains amazingly neglected.