Concert

Barbara Hannigan conducts Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress

Linus Fellbom (stage direction), William Morgan (Tom Rakewell), Aphrodite Patoulidou (Anne Truelove), John Taylor Ward (Nick Shadow), Kate Howden (Baba the Turk) ...

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Cast

Linus Fellbom — Stage director, lighting designer

Anna Ardelius — Costumes

Theresia Frisk — Make-up artist

William Morgan — Tom Rakewell

Aphrodite Patoulidou — Anne Trulove

John Taylor Ward — Nick Shadow

Kate Howden — Baba the Turk

Erik Rosenius — Father Trulove

Ziad Nehme — Sellem

Gothenburg Symphony Vocal Ensemble

Alexander Einarsson — Chorus Master

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

Barbara Hannigan — Conductor

Program notes

The final work of Igor Stravinsky’s “neoclassical” period before he sought reinvention in serialism, The Rake’s Progress sees the Russian master looking to Mozart for stylistic and figural inspiration without straying far from his characteristically ambiguous sense of tonality. Inspired by a series of 18th-century engravings by William Hogarth, and with a libretto by the great W.H. Auden (introduced to the composer by none other than Aldous Huxley) and Chester Kallman, the opera traces the precipitous rise and Faustian fall from grace of Tom Rakewell, who abandons his fiancée Anne Trulove for a life of libertinage when he hires a mysterious servant who may yet end up master…

The astonishing Barbara Hannigan, after singing the role of Anne Trulove countless times, returns to the work as conductor in this semi-staged production directed by Linus Fellbom. Hannigan leads the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra through Stravinsky’s gloriously idiosyncratic score with a stellar vocal cast that includes William Morgan as the titular Rakewell, Aphrodite Patoulidou as Anne, and John Taylor Ward as the devilish Nick Shadow.

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