Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)\u00a0after John Bunyan<\/p>\n
Conductor, Martyn Brabbins\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director, Yoshi O\u00efda<\/p>\n
ENO stages the first full professional performance of Vaughan Williams\u2019 The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress <\/em>since its premiere at the 1951 Festival of Britain<\/strong><\/p>\n English National Opera\u2019s new production of Vaughan Williams\u2019 The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress<\/em> highlights the company\u2019s commitment to celebrating great 20th<\/sup> century British opera. Yoshi O\u00efda\u2019s directorial debut with ENO marks the first full professional staging of Vaughan William\u2019s seminal work since its premiere at the 1951 Festival of Britain.<\/p>\n Vaughan Williams spent 40 years of his life perfecting The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress<\/em> \u2013 a sublime \u2018morality\u2019 that charts the trials, tribulations, temptations and revelations that Bunyan\u2019s questing Pilgrim encounters on his physical and spiritual progress \u2018from the world to that which is to come\u2019.<\/p>\n The opera is based on the original two-part book of the same title, an extended Christian allegory by John Bunyan, published in the late 1600s. Although Vaughan Williams was a self-professed agnostic, he wrote in a letter in May 1951 that he wanted the music to \u201capply to anyone who aims at a spiritual life\u201d.<\/p>\n Drawing on traditional Japanese Noh theatre, actor, film and theatre director Yoshi O\u00efda\u2019s highly original technique bridges Eastern and Western theatrical methods. O\u00efda makes his ENO debut following a number of recent high profile European productions including stagings for the National Theatre Prague and Op\u00e9ra National du Rhin. O\u00efda made his name as an innovative interpreter of English 20th<\/sup>-century opera with his UK debut production of Death in Venice \u2013 <\/em>\u201ca superb performance\u201d (Daily Telegraph) – <\/em>for the Aldeburgh and Bregenz festivals (2007), on which he worked with conductor Martyn Brabbins.<\/p>\n Brabbins is well-known for his championing of British Music, including his previous appearance for ENO, in 2005, when he conducted a \u2018grippingly urgent and muscular\u2019 (The Guardian<\/em>) account of Tippett\u2019s A Child of Our Time<\/em>. Brabbins is Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic and Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. He was previously Artistic Director of the Cheltenham International Festival of Music 2005-2007 and Associate Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 1994-2005.<\/p>\n The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress <\/em>opens at the London Coliseum on 5 November for 7 performances \u2013 November 5, 9, 16, 20, 22 & 28 at 7.30pm and Nov 24 at 6.30pm<\/p>\n New production in association with The Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust and supported by ENO\u2019s English Opera Group and the Friends of ENO.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)\u00a0after John Bunyan Conductor, Martyn Brabbins\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director, Yoshi O\u00efda ENO stages the first full professional performance of Vaughan Williams\u2019 The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress since its premiere at the 1951 Festival of Britain English National Opera\u2019s new production of … Continue reading