Uma Thurman will appear alongside Renée Fleming in the upcoming world premiere of the late André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s Penelope, to be presented at Tanglewood Music Festival July 24.
The premiere was announced in November last year, months before Previn’s death in February; the work will now be presented in dedication to him. As Previn’s manuscript was left unfinished, his longtime editor and copyist David Fetherolf created a full working score so that the performance could go on as scheduled.
Thurman, who made her Broadway debut in The Parisian Woman, will take on the newly created narrator role in the piece, inspired by Homer’s Odyssey. After Penelope, she’ll stay in the Berkshires to appear in Ibsen’s Ghosts at Williamstown Theatre Festival.
The performance will also feature the Emerson String Quartet and pianist Simone Dinnerstein. The piece, originally conceived as part of Tanglewood’s celebration of Previn’s 90th birthday, was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Kennedy Center.
Fleming, who recently concluded a London bow in The Light in the Piazza (a show she will also headline in Los Angeles and Chicago), will also take the Tanglewood stage to sing the role of Georgia O’Keeffe in the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Kevin Puts’ The Brightness of Light.
