‘An Evening of Britten and Muhly’

Innovative classical composer Nico Muhly’s opera Two Boys has its U.S. premiere this month at the Met, but here he takes time to pay homage to one of his key influences, British Neoclassical composer Benjamin Britten. As part of the Britten centennial celebration, Muhly leads a cadre of classical luminaries in performance of excerpts from Britten’s opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cabaret Songs (his lyrical song-cycle collaboration with W.H. Auden), and others. Britten was frequently dismissed by post-tonal theorists as simplistic, but this evening demonstrates how history can brand someone a conservative only to see him rebranded as a radical revolutionary.

Thu., Oct. 17, 7:30 & 10 p.m., 2013