Meet Lee Bradshaw: the opera composer inspired by Iron Maiden
The composer Lee Bradshaw is staying in a hotel in Vienna across the street from Theatre an der Wien where Beethoven presented what would be his only opera, Fidelio.
“He was the Taylor Swift of 1806,” quips Bradshaw, a native of Melbourne, Australia, who looks like a cross between Gandalf and popstar James Bay. “And I think his Ninth Symphony is the greatest piece of music that has ever been written.”
Bradshaw’s work on the composer, as creative director and producer of The Death of Beethoven (a recording cycle of the composer’s late String Quartets produced in partnership with Radio Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland), has been hailed “a revelation” – but we aren’t here to discuss the 19th-century genius.
No, the reason for our meeting is a new opera, Zarqa Al Yamama, which Bradshaw has scored, and which was unveiled in February in London at Goldsmiths’ Hall starring Dame Sarah Connolly.
