Universtiy of London is know for its premiers of rare operas which have included, world premiers of Beethovens "Lenora" and Moore's "The Ballad of Baby Doe", and the British Premiers of works by  Verdi, Wagner, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky and Haydn.  The spring of  2008 saw British Premier of Edouard Lalo's Fiesque.   Fiesque is based on the Shiller story Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua, it is the historical story of an uprising and overthrowing of the Doria family of Genoa.  The work was never performed in Lalo's lifetime and had to wait 140 years to be heard.  Its first staging was in Manheim in 2006, Radio France did a broadcast starring Roberto Alagna from Montpellier Music Festival in 2007 and the spring of 2008 saw its premier in the UK with David Curry in the role of Fiesque.  UCL opera consists of students and faculty of the University who come together under the musical direction of Charles Peebles.  The production hires professional singers to take the principle roles.  There was a great deal of interest in the production and it was widely reviewed in the British Press which you will find below, you will also find sound clips from a recording that was made of the performance.

"The title role was taken with immense distinction by David Curry, a young tenor singing and acting with equal assurance and authority, and surely soon a star."

Micheal Tanner - The Spectator
http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/arts/563951/part_2/ready-for-retirement.thtml


"David Curry is a near-ideal Fiesque, conveying the hero's suavity and magnetism as keenly as he does the self-doubt when reflecting on a dream in which he is crowned Doge, or his unwitting arrogance at the close."

Richard Whitehouse - Classical Music Sourcehttp://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=5623
"The two male leads - David Curry's Fiesque and Robert Davies's Verrina - provide exciting singing and a clear sense of engagement. Fiesque may not have much of a past but, on this showing, it has a future."

George Hall - The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/mar/12/classicalmusicandopera2


"Tenor David Curry gave an assured and polished account of the title role".

Ruth Elleson - Opera Today

http://www.operatoday.com/content/2008/03/lalos_fiesque_u.php

"Vocally the honours went to the men. In the title role, David Curry, an accomplished singer with an attractive tenor and compelling stage presence, produced some exciting singing."

Helen Lawrence - Camden New Journal

http://www.thecnj.co.uk/review/2008/032708/music032708_05.html