23 new programme books in my collection

I have recently acquired 23 new programme books for performances of contemporary operas.

Among them are 4 new programme books published this year :

- John Adams, Doctor Atomic, Koblenz, March 9, 2019 ;
- John Adams, Nixon in China, Stuttgart, April 7, 2019 ;
- George Benjamin, Lessons in Love and Violence, Hamburg, April 7, 2019 (first in Germany) ;
- William Bolcom, McTeague, Bremerhaven, March 23, 2019 (first in Germany).

The 19 others are from older performances :

- John Adams, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, London (ENO), November 21, 2014 (World stage première) ;
- John Adams, Nixon in China, Amsterdam, June 2, 1988 (first in the Netherlands) ;
- Gerald Barry, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, London (ENO), September 16, 2005 (World stage première) ;

- Harrison Birtwistle, Gawain, London (Royal Opera House), May 30, 1991 (World première of original version) ;
- Harrison Birtwistle, Gawain, London (Royal Opera House), April 14, 1994 (World première of revised version) ;
- Harrison Birtwistle, Punch & Judy, London (ENO at Young Vic), April 19, 2008 ;

- David Blake, Toussaint, London (ENO), September 6, 1983 ;
- Iain Hamilton, Anna Karenina, London (ENO), May 7, 1981 (World première) ;
- Iain Hamilton, Anna Karenina, London (ENO), February 8, 1985 ;

- Jonathan Harvey, Inquest of Love, London (ENO), June 5, 1993 (World première) ;
- Hans Werner Henze, Elegy for Young Lovers, London (ENO at Young Vic), April 24, 2010 ;
- Robin Holloway, Clarissa, London (ENO), May 18, 1990 (World première) ;

- György Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre, London (ENO), December 2, 1982 ;
- Olivier Messiaen, Saint François d'Assise, Amsterdam, June 1, 2008 ;
- Alexander Raskatov, A Dog's Heart, London (ENO), November 20, 2010 ;

 
- Aribert Reimann, Lear, London (ENO), January 24, 1989 (National première) ;
- Aribert Reimann, Lear, Amsterdam, November 4, 2001 ;

 
- Tan Dun, Tea, Amsterdam, January 7, 2003 (European première) ;
- Michael Tippett, King Priam, London (ENO), February 3, 1995 (first at ENO).

I now have 675 programme books for contemporary operas in my collection. I have scanned all the covers and uploaded the images to this flickr folder.

Two new video recordings in my collections : Adès and Benjamin

I have recently acquired two new video recordings of contemporary operas :

 
- Thomas Adès, The Exterminating Angel, conducted by the composer, directed by Tom Cairns, recorded at the Metropolitan Opera on November 18, 2017 (Erato) ;

- George Benjamin, Lessons in Love and Violence, conducted by the composer, directed by Katie Mitchell, recorded at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in May 2018 (Opus Arte).

I now have 251 video recordings of operas. You can see all my collections of books and recordings on Librarything.

Five new programme books in my collection

I have recently acquired 5 new programme books for contemporary operas :

1) George Benjamin : Lessons in Love and Violence, London (ROH), May 10, 2018.
It is a 92 pages book. It is entirely in English. It contains :

- complete cast ;
- synopsis, by librettist Martin Crimp ;
- Creating Psychological Sound-Worlds, George Benjamin talks to Oliver Mears, the Director of Opera for the Royal Opera House ;
- colour photographs of rehearsals, by Stephen Cummiskey ;
- A Flair for the Dramatic, by Guy Dammann ;
- Love in a Political Context, Martin Crimp talks to Oliver Mears ;
- Re-imagining Edward II, by Richard Rowland ;
- The Loves of the Powerful, by Melanie Marshall ;
- biographies with black and white headshots.

2) Sidney Corbett : San Paolo, Osnabrück, April 28, 2018.
It is a 32 pages booklet. It is entirely in German. It contains :

- full cast and crew ;
- colour photographs of rehearsals ;
- synopsis ;
- Vom Filmskript zur Oper ;
- Pier Paolo Pasolini : Filmprojekt über den heiligen Paulus ;
- Klaus Englert : Pier Paolo Pasolini - Unkonventionell religiös ;
- biographies of Pier Paolo Pasolini, Paulus von Tarsus and composer Sidney Corbett.

3) Benoît Menut : Fando et Lis, Saint-Etienne, May 2, 2018.
It is a 28 pages brochure. It is entirely in French. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- Une aventure ancrée dans mes veines, by director Kristian Frédric ;
- L'éloge du chant, interview with composer Benoît Menut, by Michèle Tosi ;
- complete libretto by Kristian Frédric, in French ;
- biographies of the artists, with black and white headshots.

4) Alexander Raskatov : GerMANIA, Lyon, May 19, 2018.
It is a 192 pages book. It is entirely in French. It contains :

- technical information : writing of the libretto, composition of the score, characters, orchestral setting, complete cast for the world première ;
- synopsis ;
- the characters ;
- complete original libretto (in German and Russian, with lines in Hebrew and French), with French translation ;
- Alexander Raskatov : À la mémoire de toutes les âmes ruinées ;
- Frank Langlois : GerMANIA, matériaux ;
- several other texts by Bertolt Brecht, Heiner Müller, Paul Celan, Erich Kästner, Vassili Grossman, Ossip Mandelstam, Charles de Gaulle, Vassili Axionov ;
- Laurent Brunner : À propos de Germania 3, des souvenirs dans l'histioire ;
- biographies of Raskatov and Müller.

There is a separate 24 pages booklet with complete cast and biographies.

5) José Maria Sanchez-Verdu : Argo, Schwetzingen, April 27, 2018.
It is a 64 pages book. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- excerpts of : Die Fahrt der Argonauten by Apollonios von Rhodos ; Die Odyssee by Homer ;
- colour photographs of rehearsals ;
- Interview with the composer José Maria Sanchez-Verdu, by Ina Karr ;
- Bewegung als zentrales Element, by director Mirella Weingarten ;
- Die Begegnung mit dem Imaginären, by Maurice Blanchot ;
- Odysseus oder Mythos und Aufklärung, by Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno ;
- complete libretto in German ;
- biographies of artists.

I have also acquired the librettos published by Faber Music of Lessons in Love and Violence and Written on Skin, 2 operas composed by George Benjamin, with librettos by Martin Crimp.

I now have 566 programme books for contemporary. I have scanned and uploaded all the covers to this flickr folder.

Today : world première of 'Lessons in Love and Violence' by George Benjamin in London

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.