Brian Large (born 16 February 1939 in London, England) is a television director specializing in opera and classical music broadcasts.
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Brian Large studied at the Royal Academy of Music London where he was appointed "Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music" in 1991.[1] After graduating from the University of London with Doctorate degrees in both Music and Philosophy he did postgraduate work in Vienna and Prague. His interest in Czech and Slavic opera resulted in the writing and publication of two pioneering books on the music of Bedřich Smetana and Bohuslav Martinů.
In 1965 Brian Large joined the BBC 2 Television at its inception as a director with responsibility for music and opera television and was appointed chief opera producer in 1970. During this period he televised
In 1966 the BBC commissioned an opera for television from Benjamin Britten. In August 1970 Owen Wingrave, op.85 (libretto: Britten/Piper, based on a short story by Henry James) was completed. Brian Large directed and televised its world premiere conducted by the composer in November 1970, first broadcast on BBC 2 on 16 May 1971.[2]
During his time at the BBC for Royal Opera, London Large directed
Additionally, he directed numerous programmes by Sir Frederick Ashton and Sir Kenneth Macmillan from The Royal Ballet, among others
Apart from The Royal Ballet he also worked with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev.
While at the BBC Brian Large directed numerous live telecasts of concerts with
In 1974 Wolfgang Wagner invited Large to Bayreuth to collaborate on documenting the works of his grandfather Richard Wagner on television.
and, perhaps, one of the most acclaimed programs in the history of classical music on television
For the latter the Royal Television Society named Large "Best Television Director" in 1981.
Subsequent to taking leave of the BBC in 1980, Brian Large has continued to direct opera for the Royal Opera, London including
In recent years he has directed from Royal Opera, London telecasts of
From the Glyndebourne Festival he has televised The Markopoulos Case (Silia; Sir Andrew Davis) and Le comte Ory (Massis; Sir Andrew Davis).
Following the 1977 internationally televised Royal Opera House Gala celebrating the Silver Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, invitations came for Large to direct performing arts programs for many international television networks and opera companies including
Additionally, Large has directed concerts for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra: The annual Vienna New Year's Concert from 1989 to 1993 and again from 1997 to 2009 and in 2011.
In Germany, Brian Large has directed for ZDF from Deutsche Oper Berlin and two concerts at the Dresdner Frauenkirche with Angela Gheorghiu and Cecilia Bartoli. Brian Large televised for Bayerischer Rundfunk from Bayerische Staatsoper, Prinzregententheater and Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz and two special concerts from the Vatican honoring Pope Benedict XVI (Jansons 27 Oct. 2007 ; Thielemann)[4] as well as the Opening Concert of the 2006 World Cup Games (Domingo, Damrau, Lang Lang; Jansons, Mehta, Thielemann).
Brian Large directed opera productions from La Scala among others Nabucco (Dimitrova, Bruson ; Muti) and from the Arena di Verona Madame Butterfly (Kabaivanska) and Tosca (Marton, Aragall).
From the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Large has televised opera under the musical direction of Valery Gergiev including Pique Dame and the original "St. Petersburg" version of La forza del destino as well as ballet: Jewels (ballet) and Don Quixote.
At the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris Brian Large directed The Cunning Little Vixen (Mackerras, Hytner); Alceste (von Otter; Gardiner) and Orphée (Kozena; Gardiner), while from the Théatre des Champs Elysée he televised "Viva Vivaldi" with Cecilia Bartoli.
Since 1979, Large has directed over 80 opera-, recital- and gala-telecasts from the Metropolitan Opera New York with James Levine and he has televised the 1983/84 Spring Centennial Gala, the 1991 25th Anniversary Gala, the 1996 James Levine's 25th Anniversary gala, the 1998 Pavarotti's 30th Anniversary gala and the 2006 Farewell Gala to General Manager Joseph Volpe.
In the United States Large has televised operas from the
as well as concerts from the
and a decade of Opening Night gala events from
Throughout his career Large has worked in cooperation with many renowned conductors and orchestras including, among others,
Brian Large won two primetime Emmy Awards:
and again
Other honors are:
For the excellence of his opus of more than 600 programmes the 44th annual Golden Prague Festival (June, 2007) honored Brian Large with a special tribute for his contribution to the industry and named his 2006 Salzburg DVD of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro as "Best Performing Arts Programme – Opera".
In 1985 the French Government named Large a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Large is author of two biographical books on the musicians Bedřich Smetana and Bohuslav Martinů.
He wrote the entry contribution on Bohuslav Martinů in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.[10] and he translated the libretto to The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner.[11]
A filmography of Large's TV opera and concert productions of more than 150 titles covering the years 1970 to 2009 is available on The Internet Movie Database IMDb / Brian Large.[12]