One of the perils of presenting brand-new operas is that the composer might not come up with the goods in time for the show. So the Salzburg Festival's Intendant Alexander Pereira, routinely bashed for his conservatism, was actually rather brave in commissioning five world premieres for the next five festivals.
Of course the inevitable has happened, and György Kurtág's opera, based on Beckett's Endgame, won't be ready in time. The good news is that the well-heeled patrons of the Festspiele will be tapping their toes in time to Sir Harrison Birtwistle's challenging and rarely-seen Gawain instead. Here's what happened when the Royal Opera House first staged it, back in the '90s:
