The Life to Come: new E.M.Forster based opera from Surrey Opera

The Life to Come is a new opera by composer Louis Mander with a libretto by Stephen Fry based on the E.M Forster short story. The opera is being premiered by Surrey Opera on 28 September 2017 at the Harlequin Theatre, Redhill in a production conducted and directed by Surrey Opera's artistic director, Jonathan Butcher, and designed by Jill Wilson. The cast includes Martin Lindau, Themba Mvula, Jonathan Forbes Kennedy, Hannah Poulsom and James Schouten.

The Life to Come is a strange E.M.Forster short story about the intimate relationship between a young missionary and the African prince he has come to convert. Like Forster's novel of gay relationships, Maurice, The Life to Come was not published in Forster's lifetime and had to wait until 1972 though it had been written in 1922.

Louis Mander's previous operas have included The Fallen Soldier premiered by Belsize Opera in June 2017, and The Dowager's Oyster premiered at the Grimeborn Festival in 2016 (see my review).

Surrey Opera is performing The Life to Come in Redhill (28 & 29 September), Trinity School, Croydon (21 October) and Roedean School Theatre, Brighton (29 October), full details from the Surrey Opera website.