English National Opera’s 2008/09 Sky Arts Season includes 10 new productions, five revivals and the opera directing debut of acclaimed actress Fiona Shaw and the UK debut of award-winning film makers Penny Woolcock and Abbas Kiarostami.
The new season includes the UK premiere of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic, Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin and the Company’s first production of Vaughan William’s Riders to the Sea since 1953 (SWO), marking the 50th Anniversary since his death.
Announcing the plans, English National Opera Artistic Director John Berry, alongside Chief Executive Loretta Tomasi and Music Director Edward Gardner, said:
“English National Opera audiences expect real innovation and diversity from us. We are confident this new English National Opera Sky Arts Season will satisfy their sense of adventure and also attract new audiences.”
English National Opera continues to work with artists from the wider arts, alongside its relationship with many of the world’s leading opera directors.
Fiona Shaw makes her directing debut with Riders to the Sea, Penny Woolcock will direct Doctor Atomic and acclaimed Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami, Cosi fan tutte. The celebrated Irish multi media artist Dorothy Cross makes her performing arts debut with Riders to the Sea and designer Julian Crouch, who as part of Improbable created Satyagraha, returns to design Doctor Atomic.
A number of renowned opera directors return to English National Opera to mount new productions: Jonathan Miller stages La boheme, his first new production for English National Opera since 1996, Richard Jones directs Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci, Christopher Alden directs Partenope, Tim Albery directs Boris Godunov and David Alden directs Peter Grimes.
English National Opera’s Music Director Edward Gardner leads the Company in three major new productions and one revival and introduces seven English National Opera debut conductors: Christian Curnyn, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Gerard Korsten, Rory Macdonald, Erik Nielsen and Lawrence Renes. The Season also sees the return of acclaimed performers including John Mark Ainsley, Gerald Finley, Susan Gritton, Rosemary Joshua, Robert Lloyd, Felicity Palmer, Amanda Roocroft, Peter Rose and Stuart Skelton. (A complete list of singers appearing in the Season can be found on the final page of this release).
‘English National Opera leads the way with international collaborations’ says John Berry. Partnerships and ENO’s presence overseas has grown substantially over the last two years. For example two productions created at ENO, King Arthur and Satyagraha, are running in New York at the time of this announcement. ENO’s close artistic partnership with the Metropolitan Opera continues with Doctor Atomic and projects are being developed with a number of other major houses, including Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona; La Monnaie, Brussels; Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich; New York City Opera; De Vlaamse Opera; Opera Australia; Theatre du Chatelet, Paris; Teatro alla Scala, Milan; The Santa Fe Opera; Opera de Oviedo and Teatro dell Opera di Roma.
English National Opera at the Young Vic celebrates the 350th anniversary of Purcell’s birth with a major new project. Katie Mitchell directs a newly created music theatre piece centred on Dido and Aeneas, with the team responsible for the National Theatre’s Waves and Attempts on Her Life. The production will use multi-media techniques in a fresh and illuminating way – a synergy of music, theatre and film created specially for the space.
English National Opera is committed to continuing to develop exciting interactive content centered around its artistic programme and innovative education and training programmes through English National Opera Baylis. -- www.eno.org
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