{"id":2745,"date":"2016-01-22T15:18:45","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T15:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=2745"},"modified":"2016-01-22T15:18:45","modified_gmt":"2016-01-22T15:18:45","slug":"eno-akhnaten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=2745","title":{"rendered":"ENO: Akhnaten"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phelim McDermott returns to ENO to direct a once-in-a-generation staging of Philip Glass\u2019s iconic opera<\/strong><\/p>\n

Improbable Theatre Company\u2019s Artistic Director Phelim McDermott returns to ENO to direct Philip Glass\u2019s\u00a0Akhnaten<\/em>. This iconic opera received its UK premiere at ENO in 1985 and has not been performed fully-staged in the UK since ENO\u2019s 1987 revival. One of the most exciting cultural events of 2016,\u00a0The Guardian\u00a0<\/em>has described these performances as \u201ca once-in-a-generation chance to hear Glass\u2019s score in the theatrical flesh\u201d.<\/p>\n

Watching\u00a0Akhnaten\u00a0<\/em>is a visually spectacular and powerfully mesmerising experience. The opera explores the life and religious convictions of the Egyptian pharaoh, and uses texts drawn from ancient hymns, prayers, letters and inscriptions sung in their original Egyptian, Hebrew and Akkadian. It forms the last of Philip Glass\u2019s trilogy of \u2018portrait\u2019 operas in which he explores the lives of great historical figures in the fields of science (Einstein), politics (Gandhi) and religion (Akhnaten).<\/p>\n

The UK premiere of the opera by ENO in 1985 marked the beginning of a very special relationship between Philip Glass and the Company. Phelim McDermott, described by\u00a0The Guardian\u00a0<\/em>as \u201cone of the most energising and provocative forces in British theatre\u201d, has since directed the London premiere of Glass\u2019s\u00a0Satyagraha\u00a0<\/em>(2007) and the UK premiere of\u00a0The Perfect American<\/em>\u00a0(2013) for ENO. Described by\u00a0The Times<\/em>\u00a0as \u201ca masterwork of theatrical intensity and integrity\u201d, the UK premiere of\u00a0Satyagraha<\/em>\u00a0broke box office records for contemporary opera, making it the most popular contemporary work to have been performed by ENO.<\/p>\n

Conductor Karen Kamensek, Music Director at Hannover\u2019s Staatstheater since 2011, makes her ENO debut. An expert in the work of Philip Glass, she premiered his work\u00a0Orph\u00e9e\u00a0<\/em>with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra in New York. She has also conducted the world premiere of Glass\u2019s\u00a0Les Enfants Terribles\u00a0<\/em>at the Spoleto Festival in the USA, and his music for B\u00fcchner\u2019s play\u00a0Woyzeck\u00a0<\/em>at the New York Shakespeare Festival.<\/p>\n

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo will return to the London Coliseum to take the title role in this production. Winner of Placido Domingo\u2019s Operalia competition in 2013, he made his ENO debut in Peter Sellars\u2019s 2015 production of\u00a0The Indian Queen<\/em>; his performance as Ixbalanqu\u00e9 was described as \u201csuperb\u201d by\u00a0theartsdesk.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

British Mezzo soprano Emma Carrington will make her ENO and role debuts as Akhnaten\u2019s wife, Nefertiti. She has previously performed at opera houses in the UK and around the world, including with Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Grange Park Opera and at the Buxton Festival.<\/p>\n

English soprano Rebecca Bottone will sing the role of Queen Tye, Akhnaten\u2019s Mother, for the first time. She has previously appeared at English National Opera in Gilbert and Sullivan\u2019s\u00a0The Gondoliers<\/em>\u00a0(2006, 2007) and Ligeti\u2019s\u00a0Grand Macabre\u00a0<\/em>(2009).<\/p>\n

British baritone James Cleverton returns to ENO to debut the role of General and future Pharaoh, Horemhab. He first performed with ENO in 2009 singing the role of Oppenheimer in Penny Woolcock\u2019s production of John Adams\u2019s\u00a0Doctor Atomic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Clive Bayley will sing the bass role of Aye, Nefertiti\u2019s father and advisor to the Pharaoh, for the first time. His regular appearances with ENO include an \u201cimpressive\u201d (The Stage<\/em>) performance as Daland in\u00a0The Flying Dutchman\u00a0<\/em>and \u201coutstanding vocally and dramatically\u201d (The Daily Mail<\/em>) appearances as Coppelius in\u00a0The Tales of Hoffmann<\/em>\u00a0(both 2012).<\/p>\n

Completing the cast are Colin Judson as the High Priest of Amon and Clare Eggington, Alexa Mason, Rosie Lomas, Anna Huntley, Katie Bray and Victoria Gray as the six Daughters of Akhnaten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phelim McDermott returns to ENO to direct a once-in-a-generation staging of Philip Glass\u2019s iconic opera Improbable Theatre Company\u2019s Artistic Director Phelim McDermott returns to ENO to direct Philip Glass\u2019s\u00a0Akhnaten. This iconic opera received its UK premiere at ENO in 1985 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2745"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2746,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2745\/revisions\/2746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}