Opera

Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress

John Cox (stage director), Vladimir Jurowski (conductor) – With Miah Persson (Anne Trulove), Topi Lehtipuu (Tom Rakewell), Clive Bayley (Father Trulove)...

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Cast

John Cox — Stage director

David Hockney — Set and costume design

Robert Bryan — Lighting

Miah Persson — Anne Trulove

Topi Lehtipuu — Tom Rakewell

Clive Bayley — Father Trulove

Matthew Rose — Nick Shadow

Susan Gorton — Mother Goose

Elena Manistina — Baba the Turk

Graham Clark — Sellem

Duncan Rock — Keeper of the Madhouse

The Glyndebourne Chorus

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Vladimir Jurowski — Conductor

Program notes

The devil is hard at work in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress! The three-act opera was premiered at Venice’s La Fenice in 1951 and is whimsically staged and performed in this production from the 2010 Glyndebourne opera festival.

In composing The Rake’s Progress, Stravinsky hoped to combine the spirit of Cosi fan Tutte with the sum of his neoclassical experiences, drawing particular inspiration from Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. While that might seem like a strange laundry list of composers, Stravinsky’s opera avoids becoming a mere pastiche of disparate styles, and in contrast to the corrosively ironic engravings by Hogarth that inspired its story, the work overflows with lyricism and emotion.

Hogarth’s engravings were visually integrated into David Hockney’s famous Glyndebourne staging in the 1970s, a staging that was in this 2010 production. A design “still marvellously fresh”, The Guardian described how, “Hockney's designs mediate between the 18th century and the 20th, just as the score self-consciously shuttles between Mozartian models and modernism.” With “exceptionally strong” music-making of singers, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and conductor Vladimir Jurowski, this benchmark production of Stravinsky’s enigmatic opera is sure to fascinate its audiences.

Photo: © Alastair Muir

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