English Touring Opera to perform Terezín opera The Emperor of Atlantis across England this autumn
English Touring Opera to perform Terezín opera The Emperor of Atlantis across England this autumn
- English Touring Opera will perform Viktor Ullmann’s short opera The Emperor of Atlantis across England this October and November
- The opera was composed in 1943, whilst Ullmann was an inmate of the Nazi concentration camp at Terezín, in present-day Czech Republic
- ETO’s production will pair The Emperor of Atlantis with a new arrangement of the Bach cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden
- This is the first opportunity for audiences outside London to see this remarkable work since its last major tour in 1993.
- The first London performances will be on Friday 5 October at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and on Saturday 20 October at the Alyth Reform Synagogue, North London.
- The production will subsequently tour to Cambridge, Exeter, Tunbridge Wells, Harrogate, Aldeburgh, Malvern and Buxton.
A major national opera company will perform an opera written at the Terezín concentration camp during the Second World War this October and November.
English Touring Opera’s new production is a rare chance for audiences to see The Emperor of Atlantis, which has been acclaimed in performances around the world as an extraordinary testament of wit and humanity in the face of barbarity.
The Emperor of Atlantis was written when the composer Viktor Ullmann and librettist Peter Kien were prisoners of the Nazis at Terezín, (also known as Theresienstadt), in present-day Czech Republic. It was first rehearsed by inmates of the camp in 1943, all of whom perished when transferred to Auschwitz a year later.
ETO’s production will open at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio Theatre on Friday 4 October, with a semi-staged performance at the Alyth Reform Synagogue in North London on Saturday 20 October. The Emperor of Atlantis will also be toured to Cambridge, Exeter, Tunbridge Wells, Harrogate, Aldeburgh, Malvern and Buxton.
The opera is subtitled ‘Death’s Refusal’, and has been variously described as a political satire and a parable of hope.
Ullmann’s score incorporates elements of dance, jazz and musical theatre, and was scored for fellow inmates of the Terezín camp, accounting for its unusual orchestration, with instruments including the banjo and harmonium. It was rehearsed at Terezín in 1943, but never performed there, as the Nazi authorities saw the character of the Emperor Overall as a satire on Hitler.
In the story, the Overall, ruler over a large part of the world, proclaims universal war, declaring that his ally Death will lead the conflict. Death is so disgusted at the demands placed on him by total warfare that he goes on strike, only agreeing to resume his work if the Emperor be the first to die.
James Conway’s new production of Ullmann’s opera is conducted by Peter Selwyn and will be paired with a poignant staging of J S Bach’s cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ Lay in Death’s Bonds), arranged for the first time by Iain Farrington for Ullmann’s unusual orchestra. For this production, ETO is working once again with Aurora Orchestra.
The Emperor of Atlantis forms part of ETO’s autumn season of operas, which runs from Thursday 4 October to Saturday 17 November 2012 and also comprises new productions of Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring and Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse.
James Conway said: ‘This is no normal season of operas, but a sort of touring festival of approachable, intimate, theatrically compelling operas from the last century. It has every chance of being a performance that changes your ears and your eyes, even your life.’
Dr David Fligg, Principal Lecturer in Classical Music at Leeds College of Music, said: ‘Viktor Ullmann belongs to the lost generation of composers imprisoned at Terezín, and later murdered in Auschwitz. By performing his opera The Emperor of Atlantis across the country, ETO is ensuring that he is remembered not as a victim, but as a significant composer in his own right, and that great art can be created under adversity.’
Notes to Editors
English Touring Opera is the leading touring opera company in the UK. ETO travels to more regions and to more venues than any other English opera company, touring annually to around 70 theatres and presenting as many as 140 performances per year. Our aim is to offer opera to everyone, with a varied repertoire of high-quality professional productions and education projects.
www.englishtouringopera.org.uk
Aurora Orchestra
Aurora Orchestra aims to inspire, challenge and astonish new audiences with great music, brilliantly performed. It seeks to be the UK’s most versatile orchestra, combining world-class performance with eclectic and innovative programming, a commitment to adventurous collaboration across perceived frontiers of musical genre and artistic form, and a refusal to be bound by convention.
James Conway
General Director of ETO, James Conway has directed a range of operas for the company – including, most recently, the critically-acclaimed Xerxes (Handel), Il tabarro (Puccini) and La clemenza di Tito (Mozart). In 2010, James directed the world première of Alexander Goehr’s opera, Promised End. His production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (performed by ETO in 2004, and revived in 2010) was nominated for an RPS award. 2012 is Conway’s 10th year with English Touring Opera. During his decade as General Director, he has directed 20 new productions and 4 revivals. In Spring 2013, Conway will be directing Verdi Simon Boccanegra and Donizetti The Siege of Calais for ETO.Conway has written original libretti for two operas and translations for three others, as well as several works of fiction.
Peter Selwyn
Born in London, Peter Selwyn began his career on the Music Staff of ENO, before moving to London’s Royal Opera. At the Bayreuth Festival, he worked for three seasons as assistant to Adam Fischer and Giuseppe Sinopoli on Der Ring des Nibelungen. From 1999 to 2005 he was Kapellmeister and Head of Music at the Staatstheater Nuremberg. He has conducted Jenufa and La cenerentola for ETO, and other companies with whom he has worked include Singapore Lyric Opera, Stadttheater Fürth, OHP, Opera North, Pegasus Opera and WNO. Peter Selwyn is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Internationales Kammermusik Festival Nürnberg.
Press Tickets, Images, Interviews, and Further Information
Press tickets are available for all performances during ETO’s Autumn 2012 tour. Please get in touch with ETO’s Press and Marketing Officer John Walker to reserve press seats, or to request images, interviews or further information.
(E: john.walker@englishtouringopera.org.uk / T: 020 7833 2555 / M: 0774 361 0 362)
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