English National Opera 2017-18
27th April 2017
Marnie
November 18 – December 3, 2017 for 5 performances
Marnie is Muhly’s second world premiere for ENO, following 2011’s Two Boys. Conducted by Martyn Brabbins in his first production as ENO Music Director, Marnie is based on novelist Winston Graham’s gripping psychological thriller. The novel—famously adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock—centres on a young master thief in late 1950s England who moves from town to town, changing her identity each time. She becomes trapped when an employer catches her and, rather than turn her in, forces her to marry him, leading the two to engage in a battle of wills for her soul.
This world premiere will be directed by Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (who has previously directed Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera, New York) in his UK operatic debut. Marnie is a joint commission with the Metropolitan Opera and Dutch National Opera.
Cast includes:
Sasha Cooke (Marnie), Daniel Okulitch (Mark Rutland), James Laing (Terry), Diana Montague (Lucy), Alasdair Elliott (Mr Strutt), Kathleen Wilkinson (Marnie’s Mother), Eleanor Dennis (Laura Fleet), Lesley Garrett (Mrs Rutland), Matthew Durkan (Malcolm Fleet), Darren Jeffery (Dr Roman)
Satyagraha
February 1-27, 2018 for 7 performances
The first opera at the Coliseum in the new year is the third revival the iconic production of Satyagraha by Philip Glass in collaboration with Improbable. British tenor Toby Spence takes on the role of the Indian independence leader, M.K. Gandhi, for the first time.
Satyagraha is the second in Glass' trilogy about men who changed the world, its sub-text is politics. The opera is semi-narrative in form and deals with Mahatma Gandhi's early years in South Africa and his development of non-violent protest into a political tool. (Satyagraha is a Sanskrit word meaning 'truth force'). The first two acts each contain three scenes; the last is one continuous scene. Each act is dominated by a single historic figure (non-singing role) overlooking the action from above: the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore in Act I, the Russian author Leo Tolstoy in Act II, the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., in Act III.
Contemporary music champion and former Music Director of the Staatsoper Hannover Karen Kamensek, who conducted 2016’s Akhnaten to great critical acclaim, returns to the pit for her first performance of this piece.
Cast Includes:
Toby Spence (M.K. Gandhi), Charlotte Beament (Miss Schlesen), Anna-Clare Monk (Mrs Naidoo), Stephanie Marshall (Kasturbai), Nicholas Folwell (Mr Kallenbach), Brindley Sherratt (Parsi Rustomji), Sarah Pring (Mrs Alexander), Eddie Wade (Prince Arjuna), Andrí Björn Róbertsson (Lord Krishna)
Also announced were plans for the 2018-19 season and we’re delighted to say that Iain Bell has been commissioned by ENO to write his fourth full length opera. It will be based on the story of the notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper with Rupert Charlesworth in the title role. Bell intends to create a sympathetic exploration of womanhood in London’s East End, the central roles will be created by some of the UK’s finest singers including Josephine Barstow, Lesley Garrett, Susan Bullock, Janis Kelly and Marie McLaughlin.
For the full festival listings and to book tickets visit eno.org/news
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