Opera

Written on Skin

George Benjamin

17 Mar, 16

Musical conductor: George Benjamin

The jilted knight serves his wife her lover's heart, and after she tastes it, unaware of the truth, he shows her the decapitated head of the artist. The bloody medieval legend is attributed to the 12th century Provençal troubadour Guillem de Cabestany and was included in The Decameron by Boccaccio, and it served as the inspiration for George Benjamin to create his grandest opera. This disciple of Olivier Messiaen, and the youngest composer to have a première at the London Proms, turns the legend into a story of passionate and destructive love with a subtle, sensuous musical language, coloured by an orchestra that includes curious instruments such as the viola da gamba and the glass harmonica. As in his other opera, Into the Little Hill, George Benjamin and Martin Crimp recreate ancient history through a contemporary lens, showing a double time period where the characters belong to a modern setting, as commentators of the unfurling drama, and also in the medieval period, as actors. George Benjamin directed the apotheosis première of the opera at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2012, and he will direct it again at the Teatro Real.

Subtitles in

Spanish, English

"Written on Skin"

Opera in semi-staged version

Libretto by Martin Crimp, based on the medieval legend of the troubadour Guillem de Cabestany
First performed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival on 7 July 2012

Première at the Teatro Real

Mahler Chamber Orchestra

Releases

Patron friends

24 October

2015

Subscribers friend

29 October

2015

Tickets on sale

03 November

2015

Performances

  • Date/hour
  • Space
  • Cast
  • Subscription ticket

17 March 2016

21:00

Main Auditorium

Christopher Purves, Barbara Hannigan, Tim Mead, Victoria Simmonds, Robert Murray
Subscription tickets P

Parallel activities

Enfoques

What's OnGayarre Hall

Charla-conferencia de Luis Gago
 

15

March

2016

20:15

Aula de (Re)estrenos

What's OnFundación Juan March

 En paralelo al estreno de Written on Skin, de George
Benjamin, se celebrará un recital de obras de cámara del compositor británico.
 Acceso libre.

16

March

2016

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