Stravinsky's Rake at Wilton's

Robert Murray and Susannah Hurrell in rehearsal for The Rakes Progress
with OperaGlass Works (Photo OperaGlass Works)

A new opera company, OperaGlass Works, is presenting its first production on Friday 17 November 2017. Selina Cadell directs Stravinsky's The Rakes Progress at Wilton's Music Hall from 17 to 25 November 2017, with Robert Murray as Tom, Susanna Hurrell as Anne, David Soar as Nick Shadow and Victoria Simmonds as Baba, with Laurence Cummings conducting the Southbank Sinfonia and a chorus from Trinity Laban Conservatoire.

OperaGlass Works has been set up by actress Selina Cadell and dramaturg Eliza Thompson; it is a company of directors, designers, singers, actors and musicians who have come together in response to the huge and many changes that the opera world has seen in the past 25 years. the company plans to present chamber operas in intimate spaces, to empower singers and musicians to perform directly to their audience.

Selina Cadell directed Handel's Arianna a Creta for the London Handel Festival, what was an imaginative solution to a problem opera (see my review). The idea for The Rakes Progress arose from a workshop that Selina led at the National Theatre exploring the relationship of Auden’s libretto to Stravinsky’s music. Tenor Robert Murray, who first met Selina through the National Opera Studio, took part that workshop.

Full information from Wilton's website.