Julian Anderson: Thebans, London Coliseum

From the 3rd May, the English National Opera present a one-of-a-kind collaboration that may as well have fallen from the heavens. Behind the music, we have Julian Anderson, arguably the dominant voice in English contemporary music at the moment; producing the libretto, we have the universally esteemed Irish playwright Frank McGuinness; finally, the legendary Pierre Audi, founder of the Almeida Theatre and Artistic Director of De Nederlandse Opera, takes the helm as director. Anderson, McGuinness, and Audi come together for Thebans, an operatic staging of Sophocles’ tale of the fate of Oedipus and his daughter Antigone.

The sheer quality of all three simply cannot be understated. Anderson’s dazzling roster of residencies over the last two decades includes the the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and he has become renowned for his exceptional use of orchestral colour and the driving energy of his scores. McGuinness should adapt to his role as librettist with consummate ease, having already produced an interpretation of Oedipus, which was staged by the National Theatre in 2008, alongside acclaimed translations of Ibsen, Strindberg and Sophocles. Audi’s work is of course revered throughout the world, but you will be particularly impressed to hear that he was behind the first ever performance of Wagner’s Ring Cycle in its entirety in the Netherlands, a production that has persisted for almost two decades.

Because this collaboration is so hotly anticipated, tickets will be disappearing fast, so get booking as soon as you can. The level of expertise involved in this production is beyond doubt, so do not miss it.