Brian James Large (16 February 1937 – 23 May 2026) was a British television director and author. He was among the world's foremost television directors specialising in opera and classical music. After a 15-year association with BBC television his international career took him to the United States (notably the Metropolitan Opera), the Bayreuth Festival in Germany and Vienna for the New Year's Day Concerts.
Contents
Life and career
Early life and education
Large was born in London, England, on 16 February 1939 and took piano lessons. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Academy in 1991. After graduating from the University of London with doctorates in both music and philosophy, he did postgraduate work in Vienna and Prague and worked at the Prague National Theatre in early 1960s. His interest in Czech and Slavic opera resulted in the publication of two pioneering volumes on the music of Bedřich Smetana and Bohuslav Martinů.
BBC 1965–1980
Large joined BBC2 television as a director with responsibility for music and opera at its inception in 1965. He was appointed chief opera producer in 1974. During this period, alongside orchestral concerts, he produced or directed: The Burning Fiery Furnace (1969, with Pears and Britten), Peter Grimes (1969, with Pears and Britten), Idomeneo (1970, with Heather Harper, Anne Pashley, Pears and Britten), Amahl and the Night Visitors (1974, with April Cantelo, Michael Langdon, in the presence of the composer), Der fliegende Holländer (1975, Gwyneth Jones, Norman Bailey), La traviata (1975, with Elizabeth Harwood, John Brecknock, Bailey), Hänsel und Gretel (1976, with Elizabeth Gale, Patricia Parker, Ann Howard, conducted by David Lloyd-Jones, studio production) and Macbeth (1979, with Patricia Johnson, Bailey, Neil Shicoff, Nicolai Ghiaurov).
During his time at the Corporation Large directed for Britain's Royal Opera Aida, (1968, Gwyneth Jones, Grace Bumbry, Charles Craig; Edward Downes) and Otello (1981, with Carlo Cossutta, Piero Cappuccilli, Stefka Evstatieva conducted by Downes).
In 1966 the BBC commissioned an opera specifically for television from Benjamin Britten. In August 1970 Owen Wingrave, based on a short story by Henry James, was completed. Large directed and televised the world premiere conducted by the composer in November 1970. It was first broadcast on BBC2 on 16 May 1971.
He directed numerous programmes by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan from The Royal Ballet, including Cinderella (1979, Lesley Collier, Anthony Dowell) and Sleeping Beauty (1969, Antoinette Sibley, Dowell) and (1978, Merle Park, David Wall).
Large worked with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. At the BBC he also directed numerous live telecasts of concerts with:
Claudio Abbado (Prokoviev's Piano Concerto No.3 with Martha Argerich)
Daniel Barenboim (Dvořák Cello Concerto with Jacqueline du Pré)
Sir John Barbirolli (Elgar symphonies and orchestral works by Delius)
International networks and opera companies
Grove comments that Large "always preferred to film singers live rather than allow them to mime to pre-recorded tapes", and that he paid "as much attention to the musical as to the dramatic aspects of opera direction". He was a pioneer of High Definition Television.
In 1974 Wolfgang Wagner invited Large to Bayreuth to collaborate on documenting the works of his grandfather Richard Wagner on television:
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (twice: 1984 and Jerusalem) initiated a series that over twelve years
Tannhäuser (Studer, Versalle, Brendel, Sotin; Sinopoli)
Parsifal (1982, Jerusalem; Stein)
Der fliegende Holländer (Estes, Balslev, Salminen, Schunk; Nelson)
Lohengrin (twice: 1982 and 1991)
and, perhaps, one of the most acclaimed programs in the history of classical music on television, the Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Pierre Boulez and directed by Patrice Chéreau, for which the Royal Television Society named him "Best Television Director" in 1981.
After leaving the BBC in 1980, Large continued to direct telecasts for the Royal Opera, including:
Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Domingo, Baltsa; Prêtre)
La bohème (Cotrubaș, Shicoff; Gardelli)
Die Fledermaus (Te Kanawa, Prey; Mehta)
Der Rosenkavalier (Te Kanawa; Solti)
Aida (Studer; Downes)
Death
Large died on 23 May 2026, at the age of 87.
Awards and honours
Large received two primetime Emmy Awards:
1992 for The Metropolitan Opera Silver Anniversary Gala (Levine, 1991) (TV) at Lincoln Center for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Classical Music/ Dance Programming – Directing; and again in 1993 for the live transmission of Tosca conducted by Zubin Mehta (1992) (TV) from Rome, seen worldwide on 106 television networks, and for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Classical Music/ Dance Programming – Directing, (shared with Giuseppe Patroni Griffi (director)).
Other honours:
1986 Large received a Peabody Award for the live CBS telecast "Sunday Morning: Vladimir Horowitz" (1986) from the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
1981 The British Television Society recognized Large as "Best Television Director" for the Chéreau/ Boulez production of Der Ring des Nibelungen;
1990 for "The Three Tenors" FIFA world cup concert on 7 July 1990 from the Bath of Caracalla in Rome and again in
1993 for Stiffelio (Carreras) from Covent Garden
further with its Judges' Award (Programme) for outstanding achievement in the field of television direction.
1990 The British Academy of Film and Television Arts/BAFTA recognized Large as "Best Television Director" for "The Three Tenors".
For the 'excellence of his opus of more than 600 programmes,' the 44th annual Golden Prague Festival in June 2007 honored Large with a special tribute for his contribution to the industry, and named his 2006 Salzburg DVD of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro "Best Performing Arts Programme – Opera". In 1985 the French government named Large a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Publications
Smetana (London, 1970)
Martinů (London, 1975)
Martinů. In: 6th edition of Grove Dictionary.
HDTV: an eye to the future
Filming, videotaping. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997, Vol. 2, p. 200-204.
(Memoir) At Large: Behind the Camera with Brian Large, in collaboration with Jane Scovell.
He also translated the libretto to Wagner's The Flying Dutchman and Martinů's Julietta.
Videography
Mozart: Idomeneo (1982), Deutsche Grammophon DVD, 00440–073–4234
The Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991, Deutsche Grammophon DVD, 00440–073–4582
Dvořák in Prague: A Celebration (1993), Kultur Video DVD, D4211
James Levine's 25th Anniversary Metropolitan Opera Gala (1996), Deutsche Grammophon DVD, B0004602-09