Theatre Reviews

The list of operas for the ENO 2013/14 Season provides an eclectic array of work including ten new productions.

Fidelio: opens 25 September 2013 for 7 performances. New production by Calixto Bieito (co-production with Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich), conducted by Edward Gardner. Bieito produced ENO’s recent Carmen, and his idea for Fidelio puts the performers in an ultra-modern looking labyrinth.

Die Fledermaus: opens 30 September 2013 for 11 performances. New production in modern costumes by Christopher Alden (co-production with Canadian Opera Company), conducted by Eun Sun Kim.

Canadian Opera Company © Chris Hutcheson

Madam Butterfly: opens 14 October 2013 for 14 performances. Revival of the wonderful Anthony Minghella production (co-production with the Met, and the Lithuanian National Opera), conducted by Gianluca Marciano and Martin Fitzpatrick.

The Magic Flute: opens 7 November 2013 for 12 performances. New production by Simon McBurney (co-production with De Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam and International Festival of Lyric Art, Aix-en-Provence), conducted by Gergely Madaras.

De Nederlandse Opera, Clärchen & Matthias Baus

Satyagraha: opens 20 November 2013 for 6 performances. Revival of Phelim McDermott’s 2010 production (co-production with the Met), with Alan Oke again as Gandhi. Conductor tba.

Peter Grimes: opens 29 January 2014 for 8 performances. Revival of David Alden’s production (co-production with De Vlaamse Opera, Opera de Oviedo and Deutsche Oper Berlin), with Stuart Skelton again as Grimes, conducted by Edward Gardner.

Rigoletto: opens 13 February 2014 for 11 performances. New production by David Alden (co-production with Canadian Opera Company), conducted by Graeme Jenkins. Artistic director John Berry predicts fireworks on opening night.

Canadian Opera Company © Michael Cooper

Rodelinda: opens 28 February 2014 for 8 performances. New production by Richard Jones (co-production with the Bolshoi Opera), conducted by Christian Curnyn.

Powder Her Face: opens 2 April 2014 for 9 performances at Ambika P3 (Univ. of Westminster, Marylebone Rd). New production by Joe Hill-Gibbins of this early Thomas Adès opera about the Duchess of Argyll. Conductor tba.

Thebans: opens 3 May 2014 for 8 performances. World Premiere directed by Pierre Audi (co-production with Bonn Oper), conducted by Edward Gardner who considers the composer Julian Anderson is doing really exciting work. This is on Sophocles’ Theban Trilogy (Oedipus/ Oedipus at Colonus/ Antigone).

Cosi Fan Tutte: opens 16 May 2014 for 12 performances. New production by Katie Mitchell (co-production with the Met), conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth.

Terry Gilliam © Richard Hubert Smith

Benvenuto Cellini: opens 5 June 2014 for 8 performances. New production by Terry Gilliam (a co-production with De Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam), conducted by Edward Gardner. In 2011 Gilliam gave us a great ENO production of another Berlioz opera, The Damnation of Faust.

Terry Gilliam © Richard Hubert Smith

The Pearl Fishers: opens 16 June 2014 for 9 performances. Revival of Penny Woolcock’s 2010 production, with some changes. Conductor tba.

River of Fundament: opens 29 June 2014 for 3 viewings. A film/opera project by artist Matthew Barney and composer Jonathan Bepler, it deals with the ancient Egyptian myths from death to rebirth of the soul.

River of Fundament