MEDIA KIT: The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare

Music by Julian Grant | Libretto by Mark Campbell
A World Premiere commissioned by Music-Theatre Group with the support of Boston Lyric Opera
Sung in English with English Surtitles

WED | NOV 8 | 7:30PM
THU | NOV 9 | 7:30PM
SUN | NOV 12 | 12:00PM
SUN | NOV 12 | 4:00PM

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10 AT 7:00PM—
A SPECIAL BENEFIT PERFORMANCE
IN HONOR OF THE OPERA GALA

Edinburgh, 1828. The city’s world-renowned anatomy schools suffer from a cadaver shortage. Two industrious men—William Burke and William Hare—find lucrative work by murdering disenfranchised citizens and selling their corpses to Dr. Knox’s academy. Brutally funny and highly theatrical, irreverent and fast-paced, this chamber opera is based on real events.

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The BURKE & HARE Reviews are In!

Quite bloody good!
-Boston Globe

Tight, compact, very compelling!…Peels back the layers of moral ambiguity with surgical precision….The staging, the singing…everything is beautiful!
-WGBH-FM

A slick and darkly humorous tale…visually appealing [with] excellent singing…Grant’s musical textures bathe the opera in darkness [with] moments of soaring lyricism…The orchestra, led by David Angus, found the bold colors and sly humor laced in Grant’s score.
-Boston Classical Review

Boston Lyric Opera’s most inventive and beautifully constructed new work in years….A large dramatic score…a witty, thoughtful libretto [with] a fascinating narrative and scathing lyrics….A visually arresting scenic design….David Angus’s excellent chamber orchestra projected many beautiful motives and melodies that slowly deconstruct, dissolve, and float apart.
-Boston Musical Intelligencer

You’re in for an unusual operatic and theatrical experience!…The performances are truly impressive…singing, acting and movement of the highest order….A taut musical thriller…a challenging yet satisfying example of enjoyable contemporary opera….One knows, when Boston Lyric Opera schedules a production in a venue such as the Cyclorama at Boston Center for the Arts (with Set Designer Caleb Wertenbaker strongly suggesting a pure white operatory), you’re in for an unusual operatic and theatrical experience.
-South Shore Critic

A dark and comic modern opera [with a] chilling effect….A powerful physical staging….“Daft Jamie” is lovingly and touchingly played by tenor Michael Slattery….Legendary soprano Marie McLaughlin is a standout. The power of her angry voice and range reaches the rafters..to stern and damning effect….William Burden plays Dr. Knox with great Machiavellian arrogance and calculating coldness…his booming tenor soars….Conductor David Angus helmed the proceedings brilliantly, punctuating the grim moments and setting impassioned tones for the various victims….So be sure to catch one of the remaining performances and enjoy every gory detail.
-ZealNYC

Absolutely stunning…brilliantly adapted….A highly engaging story and darkly funny chamber opera
-Boston and Beyond

Production Photos

Images are for media use only. The use of images is for purposes of accompanying related preview articles, performance reviews, and calendar listings. Any other use of the photographs is prohibited. For non-media use or if you need an image not available here, please contact John Michael Kennedy at jmk@jmkpr.com or 781-620-1761

ABIGAIL -- (l.-r.) William Burke (Jesse Blumberg) and William Hare (Craig Colclough) consider the fate of Abigail Simpson (Marie McLaughlin), who’s spent too much time at the pub in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.
BETTER TIMES -- (l.-r.) Burke (Jesse Blumberg) and Hare (Craig Colclough) imagine growing their business in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.
BURKE’S BODY -- After his conviction and execution for murder, William Burke’s body is brought to the school of anatomy, where he becomes a different kind of public spectacle in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.
DAFT JAMIE -- Poor of wallet but rich in spirit, street performer Daft Jamie (Michael Slattery) laments the fate of the destitute, homeless and otherwise disenfranchised people of Edinburgh in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.
DEADLY QUARTET -- (l.-r.) William Hare (Craig Colclough), his wife Margaret (Heather Gallagher), Helen McDougal (Michelle Trainor) and her lover William Burke (Jesse Blumberg) contemplate a better life through nefarious means in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.
DR KNOX -- Bill Burden as the morally ambiguous Dr. Knox, proprietor of Edinburgh’s most popular school of anatomy in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.
FRESHER BETTER -- As the disturbingly fresh corpses pile up in 1828 Scotland (foreground), Burke, Hare and their companions (center) celebrate newfound wealth, while anatomy school purveyors Dr. Ferguson (David McFerrin, rear left) and Dr. Knox (William Burden, rear right) face a bright future in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.
KNOX AND MARY -- Dr. Knox (William Burden) tends to the freshly delivered body of the wayward young woman Mary Paterson in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.
MARY PATERSON -- Burke and Hare victim Mary Paterson remembers a life lived outside the mainstream in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.
THE GREATER GOOD -- Dr. Knox (Bill Burden, center) defends his immoral actions in the service of “the greater good” in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.
VICTIMS -- (l.r.) The five victims of Burke & Hare – Daft Jamie (Michael Slattery), Abigail Simpson (Marie McLaughlin), Donald (David Cushing), Madge Docherty (Antonia Tamer), and Mary Paterson (Emma Sorenson), return to haunt the people responsible for their untimely deaths in Boston Lyric Opera’s world premiere production of THE NEFARIOUS, IMMORAL BUT HIGHLY PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE of MR. BURKE and MR. HARE by composer Julian Grant and librettist Mark Campbell. Runs Nov 8-12; details at BLO.org.

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