London, Cambridge, St Petersburg: new production of George Benjamin's Written on Skin

Barbara Hannigan in
George Benjamin's Written on Skin
at the Royal Opera 2012
© ROH/Stephen Cummiskey

With George Benjamin's new opera Lessons in Love and Violence receiving its world premiere at Covent Garden in May 2018, it is exciting that a new production of Benjamin's previous opera Written in Skin is about to take wing. The enterprising young conductor Oliver Zeffman and his Melos Sinfonia (an ensemble Zeffman founded when he was 16) are behind performances of the opera taking place from 19 October in Cambridge, London and St Petersburg.


Directed by Jack Furness with a cast including Lauren Fagan (Anges), Ross Ramgobin (the Protector), Patrick Terry (Boy/Angel 1), Bethan Langford (Marie/Angel 2), and Nick Pritchard (John/Angel 3) the production is being presented at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge on 19 October (the work's first performance in the UK outside London), at LSO St Lukes on 20 October (in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum's exhibition Opera: Passion, Power and Politics) and at the Mariinsky Concert Hall, St Petersburg on 22 October. This latter performance happens at the invitation of Valery Gergiev, a conductor with whom Zeffman has worked.

Full information from the Melos Sinfonia website.