NMC and BBCSSO announce first recording of Michael Tippett's opera 'New Year'

On 13 April 2024 in Glasgow, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, a stellar team of soloists, and conductor Martyn Brabbins assemble to record a live, complete public performance of Sir Michael Tippett’s space-aged fairytale opera New Year. The performance will be recorded, to be released by NMC Recordings in early 2025.

This significant recording takes place the year that NMC celebrates its 35th anniversary, with a busy release schedule that highlights the fact that without NMC, hundreds of important pieces of music would not be recorded and heard by audiences across the world.

Two worlds collide in Tippett’s New Year as a visitor from the future (‘Nowhere Tomorrow’) helps the central reclusive character escape from their personal fears and fantasies, and embrace the frightening urban realities of ‘Somewhere Today’.

A challenging and eclectic score that incorporates a range of musical influences, New Year was completed when the composer was aged 83. Commissioned jointly by Houston Grand Opera, Glyndebourne and the BBC, Tippett's New Year was premiered in 1989, the same year as NMC was founded.

Cathy Graham, Executive Director of NMC, said: "We are so excited to be the recording partner for this remarkable performance. NMC has a wide remit, supporting UK and Irish composers at all stages of their career, from the emerging voices recording their music professionally for the first time, to the firmly established. Also vital for us is providing a platform for works of the giants of the twentieth century which have not yet been recorded. Thanks to all who have made this important project possible."

Speaking about the opera, Oliver Soden, biographer of Sir Michael Tippett, said: "Michael Tippett was one of the most important British composers of opera in the twentieth century, and it is amazing news that, thirty-five years after its premiere, New Year is to receive another performance and a first recording [...] Its revival and recording fill a gaping hole in the history of British opera, and provide the missing link between Benjamin Britten and Mark-Anthony Turnage. In its insistence on renewal and togetherness, it is an opera for now."

The performance will take place on Saturday 13 April, 7.30pm, at Glasgow City Halls. Free tickets for the public performance will be available to book at Glasgow City Halls Box Office from 10am on Wednesday 7 February 2024. More information is available at bbc.co.uk/bbcsso.