The Turn of the Jew

Benjamin Britten's notorious opera which plots the life story of a Polish ostrich farmer during the early turbulent years of Lech Wałęsa's presidency. Perhaps most famous for the way in which the music paints a tapestry of the schism between life in the wealthier urban areas and the poor rural regions of eastern Poland; combining the rhythms of the female wrappers of Białystok with the nose flute hymns of the Hucowicze province. The result is a haunting portrayal of one man’s journey through a sea of beurocratic reforms and tax modifications which culminate in his eventual suicide from constipation and ritual wailing.