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The Essay celebrates 300 years since the publication of the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier by JS Bach, his landmark collection of Preludes and Fugues in every available key.

In this edition, opera director and performer Thomas Guthrie reflects on the liberating influence of classical theories of rhetoric on early music, and on what it means to be well-tempered…

Technical Producer...Mike Etherden
Production co-ordinator....Sara Benaim

Written and presented by Thomas Guthrie
Produced by Abigail le Fleming

About the essayist...
A former Jette Parker Young Artist Stage Director at the Royal Opera House in London, Thomas Guthrie's revival of David McVicar’s Die Zauberflöte there won What’s On Stage Best Revival 2018. His own critically acclaimed productions of Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte at Longborough Festival Opera led to an invitation to direct Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer there in 2018 (subsequently called ‘one of the best productions at this venue I have seen’, Rupert Christiansen, Telegraph). He directed Aida at the Liceu in 2020, Semele in Paris, Rome, London and Barcelona in 2019 and his 2020 production of Gagliano’s rare 1608 opera La Dafne – created in a week with young singers at the Brighton Early Music Festival – was nominated for a 2020 RPS Award.