Brian Large, the pioneering director of opera and music on television who brought the Three Tenors concert to a global audience at the 1990 football World Cup, has died aged 89. He directed more than 800 live broadcasts and films for the BBC and other networks, transforming how classical music was presented on screen.
Early career at BBC2
In 1965, Large joined BBC2 as a music and opera director, just a year after the network launched. Controller David Attenborough recalled: "We were all young ... and there wasn't a question of getting anybody who was experienced in opera production because there weren't any." Large's first live broadcast was of Igor Stravinsky conducting The Firebird with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in September 1965. He later said he was "scared stiff."
Landmark productions
Large collaborated with filmmaker Christopher Nupen on Double Concerto (1966), featuring Vladimir Ashkenazy and Daniel Barenboim. In 1967, John Culshaw, formerly of Decca, became BBC head of music. Large directed studio performances of Britten's The Burning Fiery Furnace and Peter Grimes, and Mozart's Idomeneo, using two studios over several days. The BBC commissioned Britten to write Owen Wingrave (1971) specifically for television, recorded at Snape Maltings with Large co-directing.
Innovative techniques
Large embraced new television technology, using colour separation overlay (CSO) to create backgrounds in productions like Hansel and Gretel and The Flying Dutchman, achieving effects impossible on stage at the time. He recorded from Covent Garden, including Grace Bumbry as Amneris in Aida (1968) and performances by Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev with the Royal Ballet. Live Proms concerts from the Royal Albert Hall were also part of his output.
Bayreuth and the Ring cycle
In 1974, Wolfgang Wagner invited Large to Bayreuth. Over a decade, he recorded Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Tannhäuser, Parsifal, and others for Bavarian Television. For the centenary of Der Ring des Nibelungen in 1976, Patrice Chéreau's production with an Industrial Revolution setting, conducted by Pierre Boulez, was filmed by Large in 1980. He removed seats to allow cameras greater freedom, creating a milestone in classical music TV. In 1982, the BBC broadcast the entire Ring in 10 parts on radio and television simultaneously.
Freelance career and global reach
Large left the BBC in 1980 to go freelance, directing for the Royal Opera, Glyndebourne (Janáček's The Makropulos Case in 1995 and Rossini's Le Comte Ory in 1997), and the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Day concert 18 times. He worked with broadcasters across Europe, Japan's NHK, and in the US for the Metropolitan Opera and other houses, capturing over 100 works on DVD. His most famous project was the Three Tenors concert in Rome during the 1990 World Cup, featuring Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, and José Carreras. Large said: "We created on that day a monster which could not be tamed." Also from Rome was Tosca (1993), set live in historical locations.
Memorable moments and personal life
In 1986, Large directed Horowitz in Moscow, capturing Vladimir Horowitz's return to the Soviet Union. As Horowitz played Schumann's Träumerei as an encore, the camera caught an elderly man with tears on his cheek. Large said: "I saw it, and it was a gift from heaven, and I punched it in." Born in Lambeth, London, to Ruby (a pianist) and John Large (a violinist), he studied piano with Myra Hess at the Royal Academy of Music, earned a bachelor's degree (1960) and PhD (1964) from the University of London, and published biographies of Smetana (1970) and Martinů (1975). He was head of music at Strand school when he saw the BBC2 advertisement. He is survived by his partner of four decades, Jack Mastroianni, whom he married in 2016. His career ended with videos for ÖRF, the last being Giordano's Andrea Chénier (2017). Awards included TV director of the year from the Royal Television Society for both the Ring cycle and the Three Tenors. He wrote At Large: Behind the Camera With Brian Large (2015) with Jane Scovell; Renée Fleming wrote the foreword, noting how he deployed cameras "in the service of the story and the music."
