Eva Kong /Soprano

Alex Raineri / Piano

Live performance from the 2020 Brisbane Music Festival 'Streamed Series'.

Jai Farrell / Audio Engineer & Videographer

Polish composer Karol Szymanowski’s celebrated opera King Roger was premiered in 1926. The opera examines themes of duality and transformation and is imbued with a mystical aesthetic that frequently alludes to Mediterranean culture both musically and literally within the narrative of the work. The story concerns the enlightenment of the Christian King Roger II by a young shepherd who represents pagan ideals. In Roxana’s aria, she implores the King to spare the shepherd of his unreasonable sentencing as a heretic.