30 September: English National Opera (ENO) has unveiled a new annual project to redesign the safety curtain in the world-famous London Coliseum’s auditorium.

Named in honour of long-standing and beloved ENO collaborator Sir Jonathan Miller, the new Jonathan Miller Safety Curtain will be commissioned each season, giving the London Coliseum a canvas to showcase new and innovative design. Each year a new artist will be invited to design the curtain.

Luke Edward Hall is the first artist to undertake this project, having kindly volunteered his time to create the new curtain artwork. Luke’s new curtain was unveiled in the Coliseum’s auditorium today (Monday 30 September) and will take centre stage throughout ENO’s 19/20 season.

Described by Vogue as interior design’s ‘wunderkind’, the London-based artist, designer and writer established his studio in 2015. His love of history and the classics inspire his playfully colourful works and he acknowledges the influence of ENO’s upcoming Orpheus series in the curtain’s final design:

‘I’m delighted to have worked on a new design for the safety curtain at the Coliseum, and to be the first artist involved in ENO’s exciting new scheme. My inspiration for the design came from the Coliseum itself and the Roman grandeur of its richly decorated interior. I drew upon my love of the mythology of Ancient Greece and Rome and created a scene in which Orpheus, the legendary poet and musician, is seen playing his violin beside the lyre-playing Apollo, god of music and dance. I wanted the atmosphere to feel magical, mysterious and dreamlike. I believe opera and theatre should transport viewers from their ordinary everyday existences to a place of fantasy – I hope my design will help to prepare them for the adventure.’

The curtain’s namesake, the director Sir Jonathan Miller, has worked with ENO for over 4 decades, directing 15 productions that have become the heart of ENO’s repertoire. Sir Jonathan was celebrated in 2016 with Marvellous Miller, an evening-length tribute at London Coliseum. Having trained as a doctor, Sir Jonathan went on to build an international career as a writer, presenter and theatre director. He directed his first opera in 1974 before working with ENO for The Marriage of Figaro in 1978. Sir Jonathan was knighted in 2002 for services to music and the arts. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science. His inventive staging of The Mikado will take over London Coliseum once again this season, transporting Gilbert & Sullivan’s operetta to an English seaside hotel.

Sir Jonathan believes it is best to: ‘Be safe with your audiences so you can be wild and original with your work’, making the new safety curtain a fitting tribute to the bold director with his audience at the heart of every vision.

ENO Chairman Dr Harry Brünjes says: ‘Sir Jonathan Miller’s operas have become some of our best loved productions. It seemed only right that we name the new curtain after him, in honour of his work’s continued presence on our stage. All at ENO would also like to extend our gratitude to Luke Edward Hall, for the fantastic new artwork that he has kindly gifted to the project.’ The curtain will continue London Coliseum’s reputation as a home to creativity, through opera, ballet, musicals, comedy and now art.

The traditional safety curtain typically guards the audience in a theatre auditorium. It is lowered during intervals and when the stage is not in use, as a precaution in case of fire backstage. The current curtain has been in place since the Coliseum’s auditorium was renovated in 2004.

The Mask of Orpheus

Sir Harrison Birtwistle (1934 – present)

Libretto by Peter Zinovieff (1933 – present)

Director, Daniel Kramer

Conductor, Martyn Brabbins
Second conductor, James Henshaw

Birtwistle returns to English National Opera as The Mask of Orpheus receives first full London staging since its premiere

Opens Friday 18 October at 19:00 (5 performances)

‘The finest British opera of the last half-century’ (the Guardian) receives its first major staging in London since its premiere at English National Opera (ENO) in 1986.

Marking the composer’s 85th birthday, Harrison Birtwistle’s remarkable work – with a libretto by Peter Zinovieff – mixes music, drama and myth. Scored for massive orchestral forces, the ENO orchestra is led by ENO Music Director Martyn Brabbins, a dedicated exponent of the music of Birtwistle. Noted for conducting the definitive recording of the piece with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2009, Martyn is truly honoured to be leading this new production, 33 years after the ENO premiere.

Daniel Kramer directs the Birtwistle masterpiece, which forms part of ENO’s Orpheus Series he has curated with Martyn for autumn 2019, following their collaborations for last season’s War Requiem and Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel. ENO’s Orpheus Series reimagines four operas exploring the Orpheus myth, each interpreted by four directors from diverse theatrical disciplines, all in sets by renowned British designer Lizzie Clachan.

Daniel Kramer began his opera career at ENO a decade ago with Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy in 2008, which won the South Bank Show Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, and this production promises to continue that total theatre approach to Birtwistle’s work.

Costumes are by artist, campaigner and designer Daniel Lismore, described by Vogue as ‘England’s most outrageous dresser’. To inspire and support Lismore in creating his first ever set of costumes for the stage, Swarovski has exclusively provided the opera production with 400,000 crystals.

The Mask of Orpheus retells the Orpheus myth in a non-linear narrative, and examines the various manifestations of grief and loss, love and rage. Birtwistle’s complex retelling explores the Orpheus myth from different perspectives. The opera’s leading characters appear in three distinct guises, representing their human, heroic and mythical form, while different areas of the stage symbolise the different depictions of the ancient story.

Birtwistle, one of Europe’s leading figures in contemporary music, extends beyond the conventional operatic resources by integrating electronic music (realised by the late Barry Anderson) into the complex score, in addition to the massive orchestra of wind, brass, harps, guitars, and a huge battery of percussion.

Tenor Peter Hoare sings Orpheus the Man, in his fifth performance at ENO while tenor Daniel Norman sings Orpheus the Myth, after his ‘persuasive’ (The Times) performance as Monostatos in ENO’s production of The Magic Flute earlier this year.

Praised for her ‘warm mezzo’ and ‘velvet-voice’ (The Telegraph), British-Spanish mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons makes her ENO debut as Eurydice the Woman, having recently made critically acclaimed house and role debuts at the Royal Opera House as Siébel in David McVicar’s production of Faust and as Hel in the premiere of Gavin Higgins’s The Monstrous Child (Linbury Theatre).

Mezzo soprano Claire Barnett-Jones, hailed as ‘a young singer to watch’ (Opera Today) makes her ENO Harewood Artist’s debut, taking on the roles of Eurydice The Myth and Persephone. Claire has performed as Soloist on the Last Night of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, for Opéra National de Bordeaux, with the Orchestra of Valencia, CBSO and at Wigmore Hall.

Claire is joined by four other Harewood Artists and the cast is completed with James Cleverton as Aristaeus The Man, Simon Bailey as Aristaeus the Myth/Charon and Robert Hayward as The Caller. James Henshaw joins as the second conductor.

Lighting and video design is by Peter Mumford, sound design by Sound Intermedia and choreography by Barnaby Booth.

The Mask of Orpheus opens on Friday 18 October at 19:00 at the London Coliseum for 5 performances: Oct 18, 25 & Nov 7, 13 at 19:00 and Oct 29 at 18:00.