On 22 October (20.00) the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre will host the St Petersburg premiere of George Benjamin's opera Written on Skin. The concert performance as part of the ХVII International Conservatoire Week Festival will showcase vocalists from Great Britain and the Melos Sinfonia symphony orchestra directed by the ensemble's founder and director Oliver Zeffman (London). The lead roles will be performed by Ross Ramgobin (the Protector), Lauren Fagan (Agnès), Patrick Terry (First Angel, Youth), Bethan Langford (Second Angel, Marie) and Nick Pritchard (Third Angel, John). The production director is Jack Furness.
The opera Written on Skin is the first full-scale theatre work by George Banjamin – a pupil of Olivier Messiaen and one of the greatest living British composers. The opus was commissioned by Bernard Foccroulle, the director of the Aix-en-Prevence Festival. At his request, George Benjamin and the dramatist Martin Crimp selected a plot connected with Provence. As a result, the plot was based on a local medieval legend about a tragic story of love and a heart that is eaten.
The opera, completed and staged in 2012, has known a happy destiny. The first production – at the Aix-en-Prevence Festival – was created by Katie Mitchell, the composer himself was the conductor and the roles of the protagonists were performed by Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta and Christopher Purves. The work met with tremendous success. One year after the premiere the opera was staged at Covent Garden and the Opéra Comique, as well as being recorded and issued on video. Mitchell's production was brought to Moscow last spring. In St Petersburg, George Benjamin's opera Written on Skin is being performed for the first time.
The on-line broadcast of the opera Written on Skin is available on mariinsky.tv and mariinsky.fm.
The concert is being held with the support of the British Council.
| user_name | | Exit |
