English National Opera has announced the line up for the 2007/8 season. The company will present a total of 11 new productions and three revivals, with some exciting collaborations in store for opera lovers.
Amanda Roocroft, who won the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for her performance in the ENO’s Jenufa, returns to the London Coliseum in a production of The Merry Widow which is being built entirely around her.
A new production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide by Robert Carsen demonstrates the ENO’s commitment to staging large scale musicals as their composers intended, following its production of another Bernstein musical, On The Town, which is currently enjoying a revival at the London Coliseum until 22 May.
An exciting development in the ENO’s dedication to new work is collaboration with the Young Vic, giving access to a space where contemporary work can flourish. ENO and the Young Vic will present the UK premiere of Lost Highway, the Olga Neuwirth operatic adaptation of the David Lynch film, and also a new production of Punch And Judy.
This season showcases many leading British singers. Monteverdi’s last opera, The Coronation Of Poppea, features young artists Kate Royal, Christine Rice, Tim Mead and Lucy Crowe, as well as one of the most celebrated singers in the country, Robert Lloyd. This season also sees the debut of four directors and seven designers – including several multi-media specialists – at the ENO.
The UK premiere of David McVicar’s production of Britten’s The Turn Of The Screw takes place in November. The work, which was first staged at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 2006, is considered to be the most dramatic of all Britten’s operas, and is based on the chilling Henry James novella which features a ghostly exploration of the corruption of innocence.
Other productions in the season include a brand new staging of Carmen, directed by Sally Potter, who was nominated for an Oscar for her film adaptation of Orlando in 1992, the final performances of the Nicholas Hytner-directed The Magic Flute, and a major new production of Aida with designs by flamboyant British designer Zandra Rhodes.
The Bolshoi Ballet also returns to the London Coliseum, with a repertoire including: Le Corsaire; two of the gems of the Bolshoi back catalogue – La Bayadere and Don Quixote; Spartacus; The Bright Stream, and a triple bill of Class Concert, Elsinore and Twyla Tharp’s In The Upper Room.
General booking for the new season opens on 14 May.
JFC