Doctor Dee, an opera from Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn, will be given its London premiere as part of English National Opera’s 2011/12 season.
The story of an influential Elizabethan, which will be directed by Rufus Norris, is one of 11 new productions in the ENO season, and one of four shows by living composers. John Adams’s retelling of the Achille Lauro hijacking, The Death Of Klinghoffer, Detlev Glanert’s Caligula and Wolfgang Rihm’s story of schizophrenia, Jakob Lenz, all receive London stagings as part of the season.
The ENO’s production of Jakob Lenz also marks the start of a new partnership for the company, as it teams up with Hampstead Theatre for the first time to take the opera to West London.
The Marriage Of Figaro, Castor And Pollux, Eugene Onegin, The Tales Of Hoffmann, The Flying Dutchman and Billy Budd all receive new interpretations, while Weinberg’s examination of the power the Holocaust holds over its victims and perpetrators, The Passenger, receives a UK premiere in a production directed by David Pountney.
In addition to the wealth of new productions, the London Coliseum will also hold revivals of the ENO’s popular productions of The Elixir Of Love, Tosca, Der Rosenkavalier and Madam Butterfly.
Speaking about the new season, John Berry, ENO’s Artistic Director, said: “British talent, led by our brilliant music director Edward Gardner, is at the core of this thought-provoking season. ENO’s 2011/12 season sets out to demonstrate that opera has never been more relevant or accessible.”
The list of British talent involved in the season includes directors Richard Jones, Jonathan Kent, and War Horse’s Tom Morris, making his ENO debut at the helm of The Death Of Klinghoffer, and performers Sarah Connolly, Amanda Roocroft, Claire Rutter, Brindley Sherratt, Toby Spence and Sir John Tomlinson.
MA