John Adams: The Gospel According To The Other Mary, London Coliseum

American composer John Adams is not afraid to tackle weighty subject matters. The cold war, the nuclear bomb, terrorism: his operas have attracted critical acclaim and fierce controversy in equal measure. It’s no surprise that The Gospel According to the Other Mary – considered by some to his most profound and challenging work – is eagerly anticipated. There can be little doubt that the English National Opera, seasoned interpreters of Adams’ vocal work, will excel in this production.
As with Nixon in China, Doctor Atomic and the especially contentious Death of Klinghoffer, Adams has joined forces with librettist and director Peter Sellars. Sellers' eclectic text strings the Bible together with Hildegard von Bingen, Primo Levi and Rosario Castellanos. Part-opera and part-oratorio, The Gospel re-imagines the Resurrection through the eyes of Mary Magdalene and her siblings Martha and Lazarus. It does not shy away from making comparisons with recent political events in the Middle East.
Since its premiere concert in Los Angeles in 2012, The Gospel has been re-worked for the ENO's 'world stage premiere'. Last year it was performed in the Barbican with minimal staging, where the music was met with critical delight. This time around, George Tsypin - fresh from orchestrating the Sochi Olympics' opening ceremony - has designed the set.
Although John Adams has his roots in minimalism, his music has evolved to embrace other ideas and structures. As he said in a recent interview, “the style’s pure form was too rigorous for my musical personality.” This has seldom been truer than in The Gospel. As well as drawing from Bach, Adams uses gongs, a cimbalom, a chorus of frogs and three counter-tenors in the role of narrator-evangelist, to create something that is uniquely his own.