New productions or revivals of recent operas (4)

During the 2014-2015, several recent operas will be performed with new productions or revived :

- Julian Anderson : Thebans, directed by Pierre Audi, Bonn, June 2015. It will be a revival of the original production first performed in London (ENO), in May 2014 ;
- Jake Heggie : Three Decembers, directed by Emma Griffin, Atlanta, May 2015. The opera was first performed in Houston in February 2008. Also performed in Berkeley and Fort Worth ;
- Hans Werner Henze : Phaedra, directed by Florian Lutz, in Halle, March 2015. The opera was first performed in Berlin in September 2007. Other performances followed in Brussels, Firenze, Copenhagen and Duisburg ;
- Toshio Hosokawa : Matsukaze, directed by Matthias von Stegmann, Kiel, May 2015. New production. The opera was first performed in Brussels in May 2011. Since then, it has also been performed in Berlin ;
- Kevin Puts : Silent Night, directed by Eric Simonson, Montréal, May 2015. Revival of the world première production in St. Paul (MN) in November 2011. Production also performed in Philadelphia (February 2013) and Cincinnati (July 2014). The second production, directed by Octavio Cardenas, already performed in Fort Worth last May will be revived in Kansas City in February 2015. A third production, directed by Tomer Zvulun, will happen in October 2014 in Wexford. It will be the European première.

New items in my collection

This Wednesday, I can add the following items to my collection :

- John Adams : The Flowering Tree, program book, Paris, 2014 ;
- John Adams : Doctor Atomic, program book, Strasbourg, 2014 ;
- Julian Anderson : Thebans, program book, London (ENO), 2014 ;

- Theater Ulm : June 2014 leaflet.

Today : world première performance of Julian Anderson's 'Thebans' in London

Today, Saturday May 3rd, 2014, Thebans, the new opera composed by Julian Anderson, will be performed for the first time in London Coliseum, home of the English National Opera.

Inspired by Sophocles's Theban plays, the libretto in English by Frank McGuinness, is a story of incest, political ambition, love and loyalty that follows the fate of Oedipus and his daughter Antigone.

Sophocles's three Theban plays (Oedipus tyrannus, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone) have been adapted to the lyrical stage several times by composers including Igor Stravinsky, George Enescu, Harry Partch, Antonio Sacchini, Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, Carl Orff, Niccolo Antonio Zingarelli, Arthur Honegger, Richard Strauss and Johann Christian Friedrich Haeffner.

The cast is the following :

Edward Gardner (conductor), Pierre Audi (director), Roland Wood (Oedipus, baritone), Peter Hoare (Creon, tenor), Julia Sporsén (Antigone, soprano), Matthew Best (Tiresias, bass), Susan Bickley (Jocasta, mezzo), Christopher Ainslie (Messenger and King Theseus, countertenor), Anthony Gregory (Haemon, tenor), Jonathan McGovern (Polynices, baritone).

The orchestra is quite a large one : 3.3.3.3 - 4.3.3.1, 5 percussionist, harp, piano, synthesizer, celesta and strings. The scores and parts are available from Faber Music publishers.

A recording is to be broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on Monday May 26th.