Today : world première of 'The Monstrous Child' by Gavin Higgins in London

Today, the Royal Opera House in London presents the world première of The Monstrous Child, an opera composed by Gavin Higgins, with a libretto by Francesca Simon based on her own children book.

It is the composer's first opera.

Hel is the daughter of Norse god Loki and the giantess Angrboda. She’d be an ordinary teenager if it wasn’t for the fact that she’s half girl and half corpse. A prophecy predicts that Hel’s brothers are fated to bring forth the end of days, and in an attempt to prevent this the Gods kidnap all three of Loki’s monstrous children and take them to Asgard. Here, Hel becomes infatuated with Baldr, son of Odin (the king of the Gods). Odin banishes her to Niflheim to rule over the dead for eternity, where she continues to dream of Baldr. When Baldr unexpectedly appears in Nifelheim, Hel is forced to face up to reality and her fate. (reproduced from the Royal Opera House website)

The cast includes mezzo Marta Fontanals-Simmons (Hel), mezzo Rosie Aldridge (Angrboda), tenor tom Randle (Loki / God), mezzo Lucy Schaufer (Modgud) and bass Graeme Broadbent (Odin). Jessica Cottis conducts the Aurora Orchestra. Timothy Sheader directs.

The venue is the Linbury Theatre. The performance should last about 2 hours, including one interval.

Today : world première of 'Mamzer Bastard' by Na'ama Zisser in London

Today, the Royal Opera House and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama present the world première of Mamzer Bastard, a chamber opera by Na'ama Zisser, with a libretto (in English, Hebrew and Yiddish) by Samantha Newton and Rachel C. Zisser.

It is the composer's second opera after Black Sand (London, 2013).

It is the night before Yoel’s wedding, an arranged marriage within his Orthodox Hasidic community. He is wracked with doubt. A chance encounter with a stranger reveals truths about Yoel that change everything. (reproduced from the Royal Opera House website)

The cast includes countertenor Collin Shay (Yoel), baritone Steven Page (Stranger), mezzo Gundula Hintz (Esther), tenor Robert Burt (Menash) and cantor Netanel Hershtik (David). Jessica Cottis conducts the Aurora Orchestra. Jay Scheib directs.

The venue is the Hackney Empire. The performance should last about 90 minutes (no interval).

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.

Received in the mail this morning : program book for 'Morgen und Abend' in London

This Wednesday morning, I have received in the mail the program book for Morgen und Abend, by composer Georg Friedrich Haas.

It was first performed at the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) in London on Friday November 13th. It is a 100 pages book and it contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- black and white photos of rehearsals ;
- Waht Can It Mean ?, by Will Richmond ;
- The Music of Georg Friedrich Haas; by Tim Rutherford-Johnson ;
- 'Perhaps...' : Jon Fosse in the Theatre, by Andrew Dickson ;
- The Undiscovered Country, by Andrew Davison ;
- extensive biographies of composer Georg Friedrich Haas and librettist Jon Fosse ;
- biographies of artists, most of them with black and white headshots.

In this flickr folder, you can see the scanned covers of all 382 program books for contemporary operas I have in my collection.

Today : world première of 'Morgen und Abend' by Georg Friedrich Haas in London

Today, the new opera composed by Georg Friedrich Haas, Morgen und Abend, with a libretto by Jon Fosse, will be performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London.

It is the composer's seventh opera, since Adolf Wölfli (Graz, 1981). His work for the stage includes Melancholia (Paris, 2008), Bluthaus (Schwetzingen, 2011, revised for Hamburg, 2014) and Thomas (Schwetzingen, 2013).

Johannes the fisherman, a simple man in the autumn of his years, recalls his past life, the two people who meant most to him – his wife and his friend Peter, who have both long since passed away. Johannes’ yearning will come to an end on this day. When his daughter comes to check on him the following morning, she finds him dead. (reproduced from the publisher website)

The cast includes actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (Olai), baritone Christoph Pohl (Johannes), soprano Sarah Wegener (Signe / Midwife), tenor Will Hartmann (Peter) and alto Helena Rasker (Erna). Michael Boder conducts the Royal Opera Chorus and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Graham Vick directs.

The orchestra is the following :

- 3 flutes (all doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn (3rd doubling oboe), 2 clarinets in B, bass clarinet in B (doubling clarinet in E flat) , 2 bassoons, 1 contrabassoon ;
- 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 2 trombones, tuba ;
- timpani and 2 percussions, accordion ;
- strings (12-10-8-8-6).

The opera should last about 90 minutes. The opera will be broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on December 5th. The same production will be performed at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin in April 2016. The full score is available for viewing on the Universal Edition website.

Today : World première of 'Glare' by Søren Nils Eichberg in London

Today, the first opera by Danish composer Søren Nils Eichberg, Glare, with a libretto by German poet Hannah Dübgen, will be performed in the Linbury Studio Theatre, at the Royal Opera House.

The original libretto explores a tense web of human relationships and leaves the audience startled and questioning its own observation of the world, and, according to the Royal Opera House website, contains 'adult themes, including sexual violence'.

Glare is a psycho-drama chamber-play with elements of science-fiction which focuses on the relationships between four protagonists. As doubts surface about whether one of the characters is an artificial human, the opera debates reality and its perception, the authenticity of experience, and emotion. It asks what is real and how we can really know who we are. (reproduced from the Music Sales Classical website)

The opera will be performed by the Chroma chamber orchestra, conducted by Geoffrey Paterson, and directed by Thaddeus Strassberger. The cast is the following : Sky Ingram (Lea, a young woman, soprano), Amar Muchhala (Alex, a man in his prime, tenor), Clare Presland (Christina, Alex's ex-girlfriend, mezzo), and Ashley Riches (Michael, Alex's older-brother-like friend, baritone).
The orchestra consists of 1 flute, 1 bass clarinet, 1 contrabassoon, 1horn, 1 trombone, percussion, synthesizer and strings (1 violin, 1 viola, 1 cello, 1 doublebass). The opera should last about 75 minutes.

Autumn 2014 season at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London

As usual, the season 2014-2015 at Covent Garden will be a busy one, including revivals, new productions and world premières of all kind of operas, at the Royal Opera House, the Linbury Studio (which opened in November 2005) and, for the first time, the Roundhouse in Camden.

During the first part of the season (Autumn 2014), the following operas will be performed :

- Mark-Anthony Turnage : Anna Nicole, conducted by Antonio Pappano, directed by Richard Jones (first performed in February 2011, revival of the original production) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Rigoletto, conducted by Maurizio Benini, directed by David McVicar (revival, first performed in Septembre 2001) ;
- Gioachino Rossini : Il barbiere di Siviglia, conducted by Mark Elder, directed by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier (revival, first performed in December 2005) ;
- Philip Glass : The Trial, conducted by Michael Rafferty, directed by Michael McCarthy (world première in October 2014 at the Linbury Studio Theatre) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : I due Foscari, conducted by Antonio Pappano, directed by Thaddeus Strassberger (advertised as a new production, but already performed in Los Angeles in September 2012 and in Vienna last January) ;
- Gioachino Rossini : La Scala di seta, conducted by Jonathan Santagada, directed by Greg Eldridge (new production at the Linbury Studio Theatre) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Idomeneo, conducted by Marc Minkowski, directed by Martin Kusej (new production, to be later performed in Lyon) ;
- Søren Nils Eichberg : Glare, conducted by Geoffrey Paterson, directed by Thaddeus Strassberger (world première in November 2014 in the Linbury Studio Theatre) ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : L'elisir d'amore, conducted by Daniele Rustioni, directed by Laurent Pelly (revival, first performed in Paris in May 2006, already performed in London in November 2007) ;
- Claudio Monteverdi : L'Orfeo, conducted by Christian Curnyn, directed by Michael Boyd (new production in Camden).

Only Italian and English languages will be used on stage during the first part of the season, but operas in German, Polish and French are scheduled later. The small number of languages is compensated by the variety of style, ranging from baroque to romantic.