The Power to Hurt

Anyone who thinks that a night at the opera is like stepping into a warm bath needs to think again after Carrie Cracknell’s new production of Wozzeck.

Comfortable it certainly isn’t, being neither easy on the eye nor the ear. Although as Cracknell herself said at the pre-performance talk you could possibly hear something that might be considered redemptive in the heart-bending orchestral interlude with which Alban Berg links the two final scenes of his first opera:  Marie and Wozzeck dead in the penultimate scene and then after the musical interlude their son alone amongst a gang of taunting children at the edge of the rock bottom estate where this bleak ex-soldier’s tale has been played out. But hardly had the word ‘redemptive’ escaped then Cracknell was keen to recapture it.

Wozzeck, played by Leigh Melrose (c) ENO/Tristram Kenton

How can a mistress who has her throat cut by her soldier lover who then takes his own life leaving an abandoned child, offer any of us solace? Cracknell and her designer Tom Scutt tell their story in a world where better feelings and personal ambition have been squeezed out by economic necessity. In the grimy pub, the tawdry living room and on a concrete staircase that belongs to the meanest public housing, survival is the only imperative. And, for Wozzeck, surviving is also surviving what happened to him in uniform as a soldier, post-traumatic stress disorder to give his emotional dislocation a name.

This is a community haunted by dead comrades returning in flag draped coffins, a place where the principal currency is small plastic bags filled with white powder. So the persecuting Captain deals in cocaine, while his fellow officer the doctor performs terrible dietary experiments on Wozzeck in return for cash. Social control and the oppression of ordinary people; the themes you’ll find in Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck from the beginning of the nineteenth century and in the opera that Berg made from that play.

However, at the heart of Cracknell’s Wozzeck is a loving relationship that is also in a state of shellshock. If Wozzeck the dislocated ex-soldier wanders the town often not returning home, then should we wonder that Marie strays with the Drum Major?

Marie, played by Sara Jakubiak and Drum Major, played by Bryan Regiater (c) ENO/Tristram Kenton

If art can take us to places that we’ve never been, Carrie Cracknell leads us to corners of Britain that are for most of us no more than flickering images on a television news programme. Home once to another child who’s disappeared; another father who’s killed his partner; another housing estate struggling under the weight of its ASBOs. This Wozzeck looks at a terrible place where men and women are constrained to be less than they could and should and ought to be and it never blinks.

And nor should we. Music theatre - opera if you will - like this Wozzeck can wound. And if it has the power to hurt, then hopefully we’re wiser when we leave the Coliseum. That quotation from John Donne came to mind as I walked home. No, not ‘Death be not proud …  but ‘No man is an island,/Entire of itself./Each is a piece of the continent,/A part of the main.’

What do you think about Carrie Cracknell’s production of Wozzeck? Let us know either by commenting below, or tweet us using the #ENOBlog hashtag!

There are 2 further performances of Wozzeck remaining (until 25 May). Tickets are available here: bit.ly/ENOWozzeck

Christopher Cook gives pre-performance talks at English National Opera, for information about upcoming events vist: http://www.eno.org/see-whats-on/productions/production-page.php?&itemid=1356

English National Opera’s 2013/14 Season

We’re delighted to announce our 2013/14 season at English National Opera. Our forthcoming season features 12 international directors from the worlds of opera, theatre, film and visual arts, 10 new productions, 4 hit revivals and 4 works by living composers.

Highlights of the 2013/14 season include:

• Terry Gilliam returns to English National Opera to direct Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini following his critically-acclaimed, sell-out production of The Damnation of Faust in 2011
• The World Premiere of Julian Anderson’s first opera Thebans, with libretto by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness, directed by Pierre Audi
• A site-specific production of Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face in Ambika P3, directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins
• UK premiere of Matthew Barney’s and Jonathan Belper’s River of Fundament
• Ten new productions, including Fidelio, Die Fledermaus, The Magic Flute, Rigoletto, Rodelinda and Cosí Fan Tutte
• Four smash-hit revivals, including Satyagraha and Peter Grimes

John Berry, ENO’s Artistic Director  said, ‘This season shows the power of loyal artists - singers, conductors, directors, composers and designers - who are prepared to put themselves on the line in a remarkably diverse and exciting range of work. Our international partners are also an important creative and supportive influence and it is wonderful that so many opera houses and festivals from around the world want to collaborate so closely with us.’

Let us know what you think of the 2013/14 season, and what you’re most looking forward to! Simply comment below, or tweet us using the #ENO1314 hashtag. 

Public booking opens for all productions from Fidelio to Rodelinda on 10^th June.

Friends of ENO can book from 13^th May.

2013/14 Season in full:

Fidelio

Ludwig van Beethoven

Directed by Calixto Bieito

Conducted by Edward Gardner

Opens: 25 September 2013 (7 performances)

A co-production with Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich

Cast includes: Emma Bell (Leonore), Stuart Skelton (Florestan) excluding selected performances, Philip Horst (Don Pizarro), James Creswell (Rocco), Sarah Tynan (Marzelline), Adrian Dwyer (Jaquino), Roland Wood (Don Fernando)

Die Fledermaus

Johann Strauss II

Directed by Christopher Alden

Conducted by Eun Sun Kim

Opens: 30 September 2013 (11 performances)

A co-production with Canadian Opera Company

New production supported by Lord and Lady Laidlaw

Cast includes: Tom Randle (Gabriel von Eisenstein), Julia Sporsén (Rosalinde), Jennifer Holloway (Prince Orlofsky, Rhian Lois (Adele), Richard Burkhard (Dr Falke), Edgaras Montvidas (Alfred), Simon Butteriss (Dr Blind), Andrew Shore (Frank), Jon Pohl (Frosch)

Madam Butterfly

Giacomo Puccini

Originally directed by Anthony Minghella, Revival Director Sarah Tipple

Conducted by Gianluca Marciano / Martin Fitzpatrick

Opens: 14 October 2013 (14 performances)

A co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, New York and the Lithuanian National Opera

Original production supported by Lord and Lady Laidlaw

Cast includes: Dina Kuznetsova/Mary Plazas (Cio-Cio San), Timothy Richards/Gwyn Hughes Jones (F.B. Pinkerton), George von Bergen (Sharpless), Pamela Helen Stephen (Suzuki), Alun Rhys-Jenkins (Goro), Mark Richardson (The Bonze), Alexander Robin Baker (Prince Yamadori), Catherine Young (Kate Pinkerton)

The Magic Flute

Wolfgang Mozart

Directed by Simon McBurney

Conducted by Gergely Madaras

Opens: 7 November 2013 (12 performances)

A co-production with De Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam and International Festival of Lyric Art, Aix-en-Provence, and in collaboration with Complicite

Cast Includes: Ben Johnson (Tamino), Devon Guthrie (Pamina), Roland Wood (Papageno), Mary Bevan (Papagena), TBA (Queen of the Night), James Creswell (Sarastro), Brian Galliford (Monostatos), Eleanor Dennis (First Lady), Clare Presland (Second Lady), Rosie Aldridge (Third Lady), Anthony Gregory (First Priest/First Armed Man), Stephen Holloway (Second Priest/Second Armed Man)

Satyagraha

Philip Glass

Directed by Phelim McDermott

Conducted by TBA

Opens: 20 November 2013 (6 performances)

A co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and in collaboration with Improbable

Original production supported by ENO’s Contemporary Opera Group

Cast Includes: Alan Oke (M. K. Gandhi), Janis Kelly (Mrs Naidoo)

Peter Grimes

Benjamin Britten

Directed by David Alden

Conducted by Edward Gardner

Opens: 29 January 2014 (8 performances)

A co-production with De Vlaamse Opera, Opera de Oviedo and Deutsche Oper Berlin

Original production supported by ENO’s English Opera Group

Cast Includes: Stuart Skelton (Peter Grimes), Elza van den Heever (Ellen Orford), Iain Paterson (Balstrode), Rebecca De Pont Davies (Auntie), Matthew Best (Swallow), Leigh Melrose (Ned Keene), Michael Colvin (Bob Boles), Felicity Palmer (Mrs Sedley), Rhian Lois (1^st Niece), Mary Bevan (2^nd Neice), Matthew Treviño (Hobson), Tim Robinson (Reverend Horace Adams)

Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi

Directed by Christopher Alden

Conducted by Graeme Jenkins

Opens: 13 February 2014 (11 performances)

A co-production with Canadian Opera Company

New production supported by a syndicate of individual donors

Cast Includes: Quinn Kelsey (Rigoletto), Barry Banks (Duke of Mantua), Anna Christy (Gilda), Peter Rose/Matthew Treviño (Sparafucile), Justina Gringyte (Maddalena), David Stout (Monterone), George Humphreys (Marullo), Anthony Gregory (Borsa), Barnaby Rea (Ceprano), Diana Montague (Giovanna)

Rodelinda

George Frideric Handel

Directed by Richard Jones

Conducted by Christian Curnyn

Opens: 28 February 2014 (8 performances)

A co-production with the Bolshoi Opera, Russia

New production supported by Colwinston Charitable Trust and a syndicate of individual donors

Cast Includes: Rebecca Evans (Rodelinda), Iestyn Davies (Bertarido), John Mark Ainsley (Grimoaldo), Susan Bickley (Eduige), Christopher Ainslie (Unulfo), Richard Burkhard (Garibaldo)

Booking for these shows opens later this year…

Powder Her Face

Thomas Adès

Directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins

Conducted by TBA

Opens: 2 April 2014 (9 site-specific performances at Ambika P3)

Thebans

Julian Anderson

Librettist: Frank McGuinness

Directed by Pierre Audi

Conducted by Edward Gardner

Opens: 3 May 2014 (8 performances)

A co-production with Bonn Oper

New production supported by The Boltini Trust, PRS for Music Foundation and ENO’s Contemporary Opera Group

Cast Includes: Roland Wood (Oedipus), Peter Hoare (Creon), Julia Sporsén (Antigone), Matthew Best (Tiresias), Susan Bickley (Jocasta), Christopher Ainslie (Messenger), Anthony Gregory (Haemon), Jonathan McGovern (Polynices)

Cosí Fan Tutte

Wolfgang Mozart

Directed by Katie Mitchell

Conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth

Opens: 16 May 2014 (12 performances)

A co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, New York

Cast Includes: Kate Valentine (Fiordiligi), Christine Rice (Dorabella), Norman Reinhardt (Ferrando), Marcus Farnsworth (Guglielmo), Roderick Williams (Don Alfonso), Mary Bevan (Despina)

Benvenuto Cellini

Hector Berlioz

Directed by Terry Gilliam

Conducted by Edward Gardner

Opens: 5 June 2014 (8 performances)

A co-production with De Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam

New production supported by the Peter Moores Foundation’s Swansong Project 2013–2015 and a syndicate of individual donors

Cast Includes: Michael Spyres (Benvenuto Cellini), Corrine Winters (Teresa), Pavlo Hunka (Balcucci), Nicky Spence (Francesco), Paula Murrihy (Ascanio), Willard White (Pope Clement VII), Richard Burkhard (Fieramosca)

The Pearl Fishers

Georges Bizet

Directed by Penny Woolcock

Conductor: TBA

Opens: 16 June 2014 (9 performances)

Cast Includes: Sophie Bevan (Leila), John Tessier (Nadir), George von Bergen (Zurga)

River of Fundament

Composed by Jonathan Belper

Directed by Matthew Barney

Opens 29 June 2014 (3 viewings)

River of Fundament is presented worldwide on behalf of the artist by Manchester International Festival

ENO Chair

At the end of January 2013 Sir Peter Bazalgette will stand down as Chairman of English National Opera and take up the role of Chairman of Arts Council England.

We are actively searching for a new Chair and expressions of interest should be sent to Sarah Holden at sholden@eno.org

If no appointment for Sir Peter’s successor has been made by February, ENO’s two Deputy Chairs, Glyn Barker and Ffion Hague, both of whom have ruled themselves out as candidates for the role, will co-chair the board as an interim arrangement.

ENO has a world class reputation for distinctive and highly theatrical productions which has resulted in many high profile artistic partnerships with opera houses and festivals around the world. We are committed to developing British talent and creating new audiences for opera. This year, we won every available UK opera award for our work, including the Olivier Award for the Breadth and Diversity of the Artistic Programme.

Public Booking - OPEN for Summer 2013

Public booking opens TODAY for our Summer 2013 operas. 

Click on the links below for more information about the operas, and to buy tickets:

Sunken Garden

A world première and a brand new collaboration with the Barbican. Sunken Garden is a film-opera composed/directed by Michel van der Aa with a libretto by Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell. 

April 12 - 20 at The Barbican Centre (7 performances)

La bohème 

Jonathan Miller’s classic production returns with ENO favourites Gwyn Hughes Jones and Kate Valentine in the lead roles. 

April 29 - Jun 29 (14 performances)

Wozzeck 

Carrie Cracknell makes her English National Opera directorial début in Berg’s theatrical masterpiece, coming to the Coliseum for the first time in 25 years. ENO Music Director Edward Gardner conducts.

May 11 - 25 (6 performances)

The Perfect American 

The UK première of Philip Glass’s latest opera, commissioned by ENO and Teatro Real Madrid to celebrate Glass’s 75th birthday. Based on Peter Stephan Jungk’s novel, The Perfect American imagines the final years of Walt Disney’s life in a haunting and thrilling production, directed by Improbable’s Phelim McDermott, who returns to ENO following his spectacular production of Satyagraha. Designed by leading international designer Dan Potra, whose work on the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games ceremony was widely acclaimed. Conducted by Gareth Jones with Christopher Purves playing the title role.

Jun 1 - 28 (9 performances)

Death in Venice 

ENO celebrates Britten’s centenary with a revival of Deborah Warner’s 2007 production of Death in Venice, conducted by Edward Gardner.

Jun 14-26 (5 performances)

Hans Werner Henze (1926 - 2012) on Elegy for Young Lovers

The following extract is taken from the programme for ENO’s production of Elegy for Young Lovers, by Hans Werner Henze who died on October 27 2012. 

Edited by Philip Reed, from the composer’s autobiography

In December 1958 I wrote to Auden in New York, asking him in all humility whether he might possibly be prepared, with or without Chester Kallman, to work for me. He replied as follows

            New York, 6 January 1959

           Dear Hans: Delighted to get your letter. Chester& I would love to   collaborate with you on an opera, provided we can earn some money thereby. – What would you say to this idea? A reincarnation of the Daphnis–Chloe story, set in an imaginary Forio in about 1910. One of them would have been brought up by grape-growing contadini, the other by pescatori. Gnatho, the rich queen, would be a version of Norman Douglas, the anti-Christian romantic ‘Pagan’. L (our copy of the novel is in Kirchstetten, and I have forgotten her name), who teaches Daphnis the arts of love, a German Baronin from San Angelo, etc, etc. Though one wouldn’t need a proper chorus, we think we should need a quartette of Forian Gossips at the side of the stage throughout, who would amorally comment upon the action and invariably get everything wrong […] A straight romantic love story with a buffo background […] Let us know your reaction, and please come to see us in Niederösterreich. –

Love –   Wystan

With Auden’s letter came the fulfilment of a great dream, one that I had scarcely even dared think possible. Over the years I had read everything that Auden had written, studying each new work and unreservedly admiring and worshipping this incredible man, both as a private individual and as a poet: although he had already turned fifty, he still looked like an Oxford undergraduate, a giant with huge hands, the face of a tortoise, a beer gut, carpet slippers and wonderfully sad and gentle eyes that reminded me of a dog’s […] We had become friends during our years together on Ischia, when I had been able to gain a certain insight into the way in which he and Kallman functioned as librettists. In writing their librettos, they would discuss everything as intellectual equals, a discussion that lasted all day, in the course of which they would jot down odd words and phrases. It was fascinating to be present on such occasions and listen to them at work […]

For Auden and Kallman, writing the libretto for Elegy for Young Lovers was like some playful competition: which of the two was the wittier, which was better at striking the note they were aiming for? Who could offer a quicker or better solution to the question of how the story should continue? Who could find the most suitable rhyme? Auden had moved to Austria with the help of an Italian literary prize and had bought a small farmhouse at Kirchstetten near St Pölten […] here in the depths of the Lower Austrian countryside, surrounded by wheat fields and vegetables, at the edge foxgloves glinted, we met in the summer of 1959 so that I could give them both an idea of what I imagined this chamber opera would be like. I told them I wanted a small group of singers, rather like the one in [Mozart’s]  Così fan tutte, and a small instrumental ensemble comprising no more than twenty players. These instruments might perhaps play a role within the piece’s dramaturgical structure by being identified with particular characters. I told them that I would like the work to be a psychological drama, a chamber drama that would deal in the most general terms with questions of guilt and atonement, in other words, with subtle and complex issues, and not with the all too pastoral and affected bucolicisms with which they had tried to fob me off in their letter of acceptance.

Our work in Kirchstetten began with endless discussions that resembled nothing so much as the verbal equivalent of an extended game of ping-pong for three, but which were interrupted by far too many extravagances such as the meals that Chesterwould lovingly prepare, closeted in the kitchen for hours on end, and that always turned out a disaster. Each, moreover, would be prefaced by far too many aperitifs that were always the same Beefeater Martini on the rocks (three drops of Martini in neat gin). We made only slow progress, but by the end of the week during which I was pleased to see how seriously they took my requirements and the description of the music that I could hear in my own mind’s ear, we had a basic outline. This now had to be slowly filled in by the two poets […] I was delighted with the draft [synopsis] and even while reading it could already hear the artificial air of the Hammerhorn buzzing in my ears and could make out the voice of the mad and visionary old woman who for forty years has sung in metres from Lucia di Lammermoor, a modern Penelope who sits on the mountainside throughout the whole of the piece with her obbligato flute. I could already hear the first notes of the music for the two lovers, delicate flowers, meadow saffron and violets, and the grotesque, Wotanesque huffing and puffing of Gregor Mittenhofer, the cold-hearted poet who offers up human sacrifices to his Muse, the tragic, exhausted, Munch-like figure of the pitiful Countess Kirchstetten, who is associated with the sound of the English horn and whom we know one day will come to a sorry end – and at whom we can still poke fun, just as we can at the other characters, at least until such time as the laughter dies on our lips, a sensation that we are meant to feel time and time again in this piece. These people are real people, modern men and women, with their weaknesses and strengths, mortals, not gods or heroes or any other kind of supernatural being.

I did not have long to wait: within a matter of weeks the finished libretto had plopped through my Partenopean letter box. Rarely had I received so generous a gift, and I started work on the music straightaway.

While working on the opera, Henze temporarily abandoned his Naples flat and moved to Berlin, where ‘there were assistants, creature comforts, a fast and reliable postal service, where people were punctual and I could abandon myself undisturbed to the folly of this commission and to the race against time that it entailed.’

I drove from Naples to Berlin, breaking my journey in Kirchstetten, where I regaled my poets with all that I had written so far, croaking out the vocal parts and accompanying myself at the piano. It seemed that they liked what they heard. They had imagined that there would be spoken dialogue, as is normal in Singspiels, but I preferred to set virtually all the spoken passages, specifying rhythms and notating approximate pitches, since, almost without exception, singers are prevented by their foreign or regional accents from pronouncing a poet’s words correctly if those words are unaccompanied. Minor adjustments and a number of cuts were made to the libretto, but otherwise there was nothing that need to be changed any longer.

Click here to watch the original video trailer from ENO’s 2009 production of Elegy for Young Lovers

Click here to view production images from ENO’s 2009 production of Elegy for Young Lovers