Phelim McDermott‘s Olivier Award-winning production of Akhnaten by Philip Glass returns to English National Opera for its first revival, following its sell-out run in 2016.
Akhnaten is a mesmerising work whose text draws on ancient hymns, prayers and inscriptions sung in their original Egyptian, Hebrew and Akkadian. The third in Glass's trilogy of operas about men who changed the world in which they lived through the power of their ideas, the subject of Akhnaten is religion. The Pharaoh Akhnaten was the first monotheist in recorded history, and his substitution of a one-god religion for the multi-god worship in use when he came to power was responsible for his violent overthrow. The opera describes the rise, reign, and fall of Akhnaten in a series of tableaux.
Philip Glass specialist Karen Kamensek conducts Akhnaten following last season's Satyagraha revival. Anthony Roth Constanzo returns in the title role, as do Rebecca Bottone, (Queen Tye), James Cleverton, Colin Judson and Zachary James. New to the production is Harewood Artist Katie Stevenson as Nefertiti and the bass-baritone Keel Watson as Aye.
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LA Opera commission Matthew Aucoin
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