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Dateline: 2nd April, 2010
ENO and Punchdrunk Co-Production English National Opera and installation theatre company Punchdrunk are to co-produce a new immersive opera, The Duchess of Malfi, which has been commissioned by ENO from composer Torsten Rasch, with a libretto by Ian Burton taken from John Webster’s play. It will be performed at a vacant site at Great Eastern Quay in London’s Royal Albert Basin, Newham E16. The production will be directed by Punchdrunk Artistic Director Felix Barrett, making his ENO debut, conducted by Stephen Higgins and features the ENO Orchestra and a cast of 17 performers. Punchdrunk Associate Director Maxine Doyle directs and choreographs alongside Barrett. The opera is part of CREATE 10, the second year of a new major annual summer festival running across the five Olympic boroughs of Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. CREATE promotes and supports the work of leading local artists and companies such as Punchdrunk and aspires to be what Manchester International Festival was to the Commonwealth Games for the Olympics and the East End of London. The venue, Great Eastern Quay in the Royal Albert Basin, has been made available through the generosity of the Notting Hill Housing Trust. Torsten Rasch has composed for the Dresdner Sinfoniker, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, after first establishing himself as a successful composer of film and television scores. His first opera, Rotter, was commissioned by Oper Köln and premiered in 2008. Last year the Royal Festival Hall presented his 2003 work Mein Herz brennt, a 65-minute work that takes its text and musical inspiration from the hugely popular German industrial metal band Rammstein. The work caused a huge sensation when premiered in Germany and its subsequent release on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
John Berry, Artistic Director of ENO said, "Punchdrunk has carved out a unique path in the contemporary theatre scene, both here and abroad. If you have never been to one of their extraordinary shows, you are in for a surprise. Torsten Rasch’s distinctive musical voice is the perfect match for this subject matter and I am very excited that ENO is going to London’s East end to embark on a project which I hope will generate lots of discussion about how opera and theatre can work as one."
Felix Barrett, Artistic Director of Punchdrunk, commented, "We are thrilled to be collaborating with ENO on this project and to have the opportunity to work with a full operatic score and with live musicians and singers. This is a natural and extraordinary progression for our work".
There will be thirteen performances from 13th July.
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