{"id":54187,"date":"2025-11-20T15:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/54187\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T15:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:09:07","slug":"tension-drives-opera-tampas-turn-of-the-screw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/54187\/","title":{"rendered":"Tension drives Opera Tampa’s ‘Turn Of the Screw’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OperaConductor Andrew Bisantz leads a rehearsal for Opera Tampa\u2019s The \u2018Turn of the Screw. \u2018 Credit: c\/o Opera Tampa \/ via TB Arts Passport<\/a><\/p>\n

Opera Tampa didn\u2019t have to get weird this season\u2014but they did. And that choice is the quiet heartbeat under\u00a0\u201cThe Turn of the Screw,\u201d a psychological ghost story that lands like a dare:\u00a0You say you want bold programming? Come see what that actually feels like.<\/p>\n

For conductor Andrew Bisantz, the draw isn\u2019t just the ghosts. It\u2019s the way the story refuses to sit quietly on the stage\u2014or in your mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story is\u2026 to be clich\u00e9d slightly\u2026 timeless,\u201d he said. \u201cThese emotions, the rawness of them, are never very far from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is his fourth time conducting Britten\u2019s chamber opera, and still, he keeps coming back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a piece that\u2019s just full of eeriness, atmosphere, unreliable narrators,\u201d Bisantz said. \u201cThere\u2019s all sorts of questions as to what actually happens in the story, but the audience\u2026 will be taken along quite the journey with this production.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s part of the point:\u00a0\u201cThe Turn of the Screw\u201d\u00a0isn\u2019t distant or dusty. It hits now because it deals in the one emotion we all recognize instantly\u2014dread\u2014and the one place we can\u2019t escape it \u2014 a dark room where something is about to happen.<\/p>\n

A classic ghost story, re-armed for a live audience<\/p>\n

Opera Tampa could have given audiences another season of crowd-pleasers. Instead, they doubled down on the uncanny:\u00a0\u201cThe Turn of the Screw,\u201d\u00a0\u201cThe Shining,\u201d\u00a0\u201cThe Magic Flute,\u201d\u00a0\u201cMacbeth.\u201d A whole season designed to make you lean forward in your seat.<\/p>\n

Why? Because horror works differently when the orchestra is right below you.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis comes as close to having operatic jump scares as you can\u2026 in a stage work,\u201d Bisantz said.<\/p>\n

No screen. No distance. Just you, the pit, and a story that refuses to let you look away.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever wondered what happens when fear isn\u2019t mediated by a camera\u2014when it doesn\u2019t cut away, doesn\u2019t fade to black, doesn\u2019t let you breathe when you want to\u2014this is the show.<\/p>\n

Behind the tension: an opera built like a trap<\/p>\n

\u201cFor musicians, all of us consider\u00a0\u2018Turn of the Screw\u2019\u00a0to be Britten\u2019s masterpiece,\u201d Bisantz said.<\/p>\n

What makes it so gripping isn\u2019t just the plot. It\u2019s the architecture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opera itself is built as actually a musical palindrome,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get to the halfway point at the end of Act 1 and then, as the screw turns, everything\u2026 unravels in exactly the opposite direction in Act 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everything tightens as the story tightens. The music coils as the paranoia rises. Even the score is working against you\u2014in the best way.<\/p>\n

But Bisantz insists audiences don\u2019t need to walk in with a degree in music theory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure Britten didn\u2019t want people to focus on the fact that he used a 12-tone row,\u201d he said. \u201cJust how the piece impacts them overall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because that\u2019s the hook: this is craft you feel before you understand it.
Sophistication that lands like instinct.<\/p>\n

A structure built to burrow under your skin.<\/p>\n

Civility on the surface. Terror underneath.<\/p>\n

What keeps this opera evergreen\u2014and what makes it feel especially sharp in 2025\u2014is the tension between what the characters say and what they can\u2019t. Between the politeness of the setting and the panic living underneath it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2026 they are doing is playing with the idea of civility\u2026 and how underneath, in all of us, just lurks this dread and fear and existential terror,\u201d Bisantz said. \u201cWe\u2019d like to think it\u2019s far from us, but it never really is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fear in this story isn\u2019t a monster or a scream. It\u2019s what happens when someone insists everything is fine\u2014while you feel the opposite in your body.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a feeling today\u2019s audiences know intimately.<\/p>\n

Maybe\u00a0too\u00a0intimately.<\/p>\n

Thirteen instruments. Two children. One house that won\u2019t stay quiet.<\/p>\n

One surprise of\u00a0\u201cTurn of the Screw\u201d\u00a0is its scale. It sounds enormous, but the ensemble is tiny\u2014by design.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritten scored this for 13 instruments only,\u201d Bisantz said. \u201cThe colors that he produces with this 13-member ensemble is so fascinating and so perfect for this story.\u201d<\/p>\n

That closeness translates directly to the audience. You aren\u2019t watching a spectacle manufactured from afar\u2014you\u2019re in an unsettlingly intimate room with the sound.<\/p>\n

Add to that the two child performers\u2014playing roles written with startling musical sophistication\u2014and the effect is almost voyeuristic. Like watching innocence and corruption wrestle in real time.<\/p>\n

So\u2026 why go?<\/p>\n

Because this is the kind of risk audiences say they want from their arts institutions\u2014and Opera Tampa is actually doing it.<\/p>\n

This is their first Britten in company history.
Their smallest orchestra of the season.
Their most psychologically charged work.
Their boldest creative swing in years.<\/p>\n

And you get to be in the room for it.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re the kind of person who wants Tampa Bay\u2019s arts scene to keep growing, evolving, and taking real artistic risks\u2014showing up matters.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re the kind of person who wants an experience you\u00a0feel, not just one you admire\u2014this is your night.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re the kind of person who loves a ghost story that won\u2019t explain itself\u2014Britten built one that lingers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that they have the experience\u2026 which is it\u00a0does\u00a0linger,\u201d Bisantz said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

A company turning a corner<\/p>\n

For Bisantz, this isn\u2019t just a one-off. It\u2019s part of what feels like a new appetite\u2014both from Opera Tampa and from the audiences they\u2019re serving.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to see Opera Tampa take this step into newer repertoire,\u201d he said. \u201cI really firmly believe that we are in the golden age of American opera composition.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he doesn\u2019t hide his pride at being the one to bring Britten to Tampa for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cBenjamin Britten is a composer who\u2019s very close to my heart,\u201d he said. \u201cTo again be the one to do it for the first time for Opera Tampa\u2026 it\u2019s really thrilling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because at the end of the day,\u00a0\u201cThe Turn of the Screw\u201d\u00a0isn\u2019t just a ghost story.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a signal.
An invitation.
A turning point.<\/p>\n

And maybe, if Tampa keeps saying yes to nights like this, a beginning.<\/p>\n

Tickets to \u201cTurn Of the Screw\u201d showing Nov. 21 & 23 at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts\u2019 Ferguson Hall are still available and start at $110.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

This article appears in Nov. 20 \u2013 26, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conductor Andrew Bisantz leads a rehearsal for Opera Tampa\u2019s The \u2018Turn of the Screw. \u2018 Credit: c\/o Opera…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[7529,19975,135,137,136,33908],"class_list":["post-54187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-david-a-straz-center-for-the-performing-arts","tag-opera-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-the-turn-of-the-screw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}