Today, the Royal Opera House in London presents the world première of George Benjamin's new opera, Lessons in Love and Violence, with a libretto by Martin Crimp.
It is the third opera composed by George Benjamin, after Into the Little Hill (Paris, November 22, 2006) and Written on Skin (Aix-en-Provence, July 7, 2012), both with librettos by Martin Crimp.
A king is forced to choose between love and political expediency. His decisions allow his country to slide into civil war, and turn his wife and son against him. (reproduced from the Royal Opera House website)The cast includes baritone Stéphane Degout (King), soprano Barbara Hannigan (Isabel) ; baritone Gyula Orendt (Gaveston / Stranger), tenor Peter Hoare (Mortimer) and tenor Samuel Boden (Boy / Young King). The composer conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Katie Mitchell directs.
The performance should last about 1 hour and 40 minutes. No intermission.
There will be 6 performances in London. Then, the production will travel to Amsterdam (June 2018), Hamburg (April 2019, conducted by Kent Nagano) and Lyon (May 2019).
Vocal score and libretto, published by Faber Music, are already available.
No comments:
Post a Comment