INTO THE LITTLE HILL - RECITAL 1

11 June - 3 December 2010

co-produced by The Opera Group/Aldeburgh Music/London Sinfonietta/ROH2

Into the Little Hill
music by George Benjamin
words by Martin Crimp

Recital I (For Cathy)
music by Luciano Berio
words by Luciano Berio, Andrea Mosetti and Edoardo Sanguineti

Guardian ***** Telegraph ***** Times **** Independent ****

Read full reviews from our 2009 production of Into The Little Hill and watch our making of videos here

“Exquisite…a magical, imaginative piece”
Observer

“A superb performance… A masterpiece, no question”
Daily Telegraph

“A transcendentally beautiful piece, perfectly scaled to Martin Crimp’s taut libretto”
Guardian

This spine-tingling re-imagining of The Pied Piper fable receives a welcome revival following its acclaimed London premiere in 2009. Into the Little Hill is George Benjamin’s first music theatre work and won him a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. The Opera Group 2009 production was also nominated in the Opera category at the South Bank Show Awards in 2010.

Desperate to shore up a flagging public vote, a morally bankrupt politician promises to exterminate a town’s plague of rats. A faceless stranger arrives and offers his services; but when The Mayor refuses to pay, his actions have terrible repercussions for the town’s population. The telling of the story is pared-down, with just two female singers sharing all the roles. However, the eerily beautiful and highly original score, performed by an ensemble of fifteen, is rich and totally spell-binding. We are delighted that Susan Bickley and Claire Booth both reprise their roles for this production.

The double bill includes another extraordinary work of contemporary music theatre, Luciano Berio’s Recital I in a new staging by John Fulljames.

Written for Berio’s wife and muse Cathy Berberian, this fascinating and striking work was premiered in 1972 by London Sinfonietta, with Berio conducting. The piece deconstructs a song recital, as a star singer tries to hold her life, and her performance, together in the face of an emotional breakdown caused by marital crisis. This production features Susan Bickley in this iconic role and uses excerpts from Susan’s own repertoire, ranging from Monteverdi to Mozart and Mussorgorsky, alongside Berio’s score.

Tour

Aldeburgh Festival
11 & 18 June

Buxton Festival
10 July

Latitude Festival
18 July (Into the Little Hill only)

Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House
23, 24 & 26 July

Gran Teatre de Liceu, Barcelona
2 & 3 December (Into the Little Hill only)

Conductor Franck Ollu
Director John Fulljames
Designs Soutra Gilmour
Lighting designs Jon Clark
Projection designs Mick McNicholas

Into the Little Hill photos by Alastair Muir. Recital 1 photos by Robert Workman.

© 2010 The Opera Group // Site by Wyld Stallyons & Gleam