{"id":4016,"date":"2018-01-03T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=4016"},"modified":"2018-01-03T10:45:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T10:45:00","slug":"eno-satyagraha-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=4016","title":{"rendered":"ENO: Satyagraha"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philip Glass\u2019s operatic masterpiece returns to English National Opera, with Toby Spence leading the cast in his role debut<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Opens Thursday 1 February at\u00a0<\/em>7pm at the London Coliseum (7 performances)<\/em><\/p>\n

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ENO revives an iconic piece of contemporary opera, Philip Glass\u2019s\u00a0Satyagraha,<\/em>\u00a0in February. This critically acclaimed production from visionary director Phelim McDermott and Associate Director \/ Set Designer Julian Crouch (co-founders of Improbable) broke box office records for 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century opera on its UK premiere in 2007, making it the most popular contemporary work to be performed by ENO.<\/p>\n

Satyagraha, a Sanskrit word meaning \u2018truth force\u2019, looks at Mahatma Gandhi\u2019s early years in South Africa and his development of non-violent protests as a political tool. The story moves back and forth through Gandhi\u2019s life, with the flow of time, words and music creating a hypnotic, almost ritualistic experience. Each of the three acts depicts a spiritual guardian who is linked to the Satyagraha philosophy. Act 1 features Tolstoy, Act 2 the Indian mystic and poet Tagore and Act 3 Martin Luther King Junior, representing the past, present and future of Satyagraha.<\/p>\n

Performed in Sanskrit,\u00a0Satyagraha<\/em>\u00a0is the second of Philip Glass\u2019s trilogy of operas about individuals who changed the world. The first was\u00a0Einstein on the Beach<\/em>\u00a0(1976) and the third\u00a0Akhnaten<\/em>\u00a0(1984) which had its UK premiere at ENO in 1985, sparking a special artistic relationship between Glass and the company. Contemporary opera and ongoing work with living composers are central to ENO\u2019s mission, with four world or UK premieres staged by the company in the last twelve months.<\/p>\n

Director\u00a0Phelim McDermott\u00a0<\/strong>is famed for his success in bringing Philip Glass\u2019s works to ENO. For\u00a0Satyagraha<\/em>, he is reunited with conductor Karen Kamensek following their hugely successful production of\u00a0Akhnaten<\/em>\u00a0in 2016, which won the\u00a02017 Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production.\u00a0Phelim is a founder member of Improbable. He has won various awards, including an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment, TMA Awards for Best Touring Production and Best Director and a Critics Circle Best Designer Award. He was awarded a National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts fellowship and an Honorary Doctorate from the Middlesex University.<\/p>\n

Associate Director \/ Set Designer\u00a0Julian Crouch<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 a founder member of Improbable \u2013collaborated with innovate design studio\u00a059 Productions<\/strong>\u00a0to create the stunning visuals. 59 Productions, who make a welcome return to the Coliseum after their work on numerous ENO productions including\u00a0Two Boys<\/em>\u00a0as well as 2009\u2019s\u00a0Doctor Atomic and 2017\u2019s Marnie,<\/em>are famed for the video projection in the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Distinguished London-born tenor\u00a0Toby Spence<\/strong>\u00a0sings the principal role of M.K. Gandhi for the first time, taking over from Alan Oke who has performed the role since the 2007 premiere. An ENO regular, Spence returns to the Coliseum having recently performed\u00a0Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni<\/em>) at the Liceu Barcelona; Captain Vere in the Teatro Real\u2019s new production of\u00a0Billy Budd<\/em>; and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus<\/em>) and Antonio (The Tempest<\/em>) for the Metropolitan Opera, New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philip Glass\u2019s operatic masterpiece returns to English National Opera, with Toby Spence leading the cast in his role debut Opens Thursday 1 February at\u00a07pm at the London Coliseum (7 performances) ENO revives an iconic piece of contemporary opera, Philip Glass\u2019s\u00a0Satyagraha,\u00a0in … 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\/4016"}],"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=4016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4018,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016\/revisions\/4018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}