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| Kangmin Justin Kim (Song Liling) and Mark Stone (René Gallimard) in rehearsal for the premiere of Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly at the Santa Fe Opera in 2022 (Photo: Curtis Brown for the Santa Fe Opera) |
Four music theatre works at the Barbican this Autumn show an intriguing interest in the cross-fertilisation between cultures, each taking elements of Western culture and seeing it through the lens of other classical traditions, variously combining Sufi, Ghanaian, Chinese, Indian, Korean and Western classical traditions with Rolf Hind’s Sky in a Small Cage, Lear, Gorges Ocloo’s The Golden Stool, or the story of Nana Yaa Asantewaa, and Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly.
Mahogany Opera is presenting the UK premiere of composer Rolf Hind and librettist Dante Micheaux’s Sky in a Small Cage, directed by Frederic Wake-Walker. The work reflects on the extraordinary life and works of the 13th-century Sufi poet, Rumi and Hind’s score draws on his life-long fascination with musical instruments and tonalities from central Europe, Java and India as well as influences from Arabic and Turkish music.
Sky in a Small Cage is in the Barbican Hall on 8 September, with Elaine Mitchener as the Narrator, Loré Lixenberg (Shaman of the Birds and Kerra, Rumi’s wife), countertenor James Hall and baritone/dancer Yannis François, with six ensemble singers and onstage musicians from Riot Ensemble conducted by Aaron Holloway-Nahum
National Changgeuk Company of Korea have restaged Shakespeare’s King Lear as a traditional Korean opera. The production debuted at Korea’s National Theatre in 2022 to some acclaim. Lear retells a familiar story in the form of Changgeuk, the culturally significant and artistically rich theatrical form in Korea that blends music, dance, and drama to create immersive storytelling experiences rooted in Korean tradition and heritage combined with creative contemporary influences.
Lear is at the Barbican Theatre from 3 to 6 October, with Pai Sam-shik (Trojan Women), direction and choreography by Jung Young-doo, Pansori (traditional Korean folk opera) score by Han Seung-seok, with additional music by K-Pop producer Jung Jae-il (Parasite, Squid Game), set design by Lee Tae-sup.
LOD muziektheater & Toneelhuis is presenting the UK premiere of Belgian/Ghanaian composer and director Gorges Ocloo’s Ghanaian ‘Afropera’ project, The Golden Stool, or the story of Nana Yaa Asantewaa, which pays homage to the heroic woman who confronted colonial injustice in Ghana. To celebrate Asantewaa’s legacy through music, Ocloo deconstructs and reconstructs pieces from the all-white canon of Western classical music. Works by Handel, Bizet, Shostakovich, Verdi, Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Orff are reimagined through a Ghanaian lens with additional voices, drums and percussion, and performed by a cast of women designed to echo the heroic brigade.
The Golden Stool, or the story of Nana Yaa Asantewaa is at the Barbican Hall on 14 October, with Nobulumko Mngxekeza-Nziramasanga (soprano), Nonkululeko Nkwinti (mezzo-soprano), Doris Bokongo Nkumu, Nathalie Bokongo Nkumu, Abena Biney Gloria, Titilayo Oliha, Saar-Niragire De Groof, Briana Stuart, Maïmouna Badjie and Somalia Williamson,
The BBC Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with the Barbican is presenting the UK premiere of Huang Ruo’s opera of David Henry Hwang’s play M. Butterfly. Based on a true story of a French diplomat in China, the roles of Madame Butterfly and Pinkerton in Puccini’s opera are here inverted. A diplomat at the French embassy in Beijing, falls in love with a beautiful Chinese opera singer who two shocking secrets – the singer is, of course a man (all female role in Chinese opera are played by men), and is spying for the Chinese government. In the opera the role is taken by a countertenor.
M. Butterfly premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 2022 with Kangmin Justin Kim and Mark Stone, conducted by Carolyn Kuan, see the contrasting reviews in the Dallas Morning News and Opera Today.
Huan Ruo’s M. Butterfly is at the Barbican Hall on 25 October. Carolyn Kuan conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Kangmin Justin Kim (Song Liling), Mark Stone (René Gallimard), Fleur Barron (Comrade Chin/Shu Fung), Kevin Burdette Manuel (Toulon/Judge) and the BBC Singers.
Full details from the Barbican website.
