Composer Brett Dean will conduct his suite From Melodious Lay (A Hamlet Diffraction) with soprano Lorina Gore and tenor Topi Lehtipuu and the ANAM Orchestra next month, on a concert alongside Richard Meale’s Clouds now and then, Lisa Illean’s Land’s End and George Lentz’s Jerusalem (after Blake). We spoke to Dean about the other music that has come out of his wildly successful opera Hamlet, as well as life after Shakespeare.

Brett Dean. Photo © Bettina Stoess

Hamlet has been a roaring success, and continues to make the news (including the recent Metropolitan Opera announcement), but how much have you engaged with the work yourself since it premiered? Is it something you return to, or does it feel like something finished up a while ago, now that it’s out in the world?

Hamlet the Dane has still been very much a part of the family over the past year since Glyndebourne. Being present at the Adelaide Festival performances of the opera last March was a real thrill. I also conducted the Hamlet Suite (From Melodious Lay) a few months ago as part of a recent residency with the wonderful Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. There have also been many discussions about future performances of...