Kevin Puts: The Hours

Joyce DiDonato as Virginia Woolf in Kevin Puts' opera The Hours "Independent elements melt together in a dreamlike stream of consciousness that reflects and further develops the original inspiration - Virginia Woolf's novella Mrs Dalloway", thus described Opera Magazine Kevin Puts' opera The Hours. the work premiered in 2022 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and aroused storms of enthusiasm. in 2024 it is back on the program in New York. And once again with the famous triumvirate of the world premiere: Joyce DiDonato in the role of Virginia Woolf herself. Broadway star Kelli O'Hara and soprano Renée Fleming shine in the other leading roles. The recording with this unique crew is now being released as a world premiere. Composer and Pulitzer Prize winner Kevin Puts was encouraged by none other than Renée Fleming in his plan to adapt Michael Cunningham's novella The Hours into an opera. There is already a film based on the book - with Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep in the leading roles. The plot interweaves three different time periods - 1923, 1949 and 1990 - in a complex manner. Singer Kelli O'Hara describes the three main characters, separated by time and place, as connected by "life's struggle, joy and regret, whereby we always wonder if we made the best of the time we have". And for Joyce DiDonato the novella and the opera tell a "timeless story - hopefully everyone can find a part of themselves in the story".