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WaPo Best of 2019: Classical Music

December 10, 2019

Revisiting Beethoven

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By Anne Midgette
Classical music critic
Dec. 10, 2019

People often ask: Why can’t we update old operas for our time? With “Prisoner of the State,” David Lang has done just that. He remakes Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio,” a problem child of the repertory, into a new work that hews to the original in form while underscoring its relevance to today’s society. Watching Lang blossom into one of the heavyweights of the field over the past couple of decades has been a pleasure, and his opera stayed with me and is one I look forward to seeing again.