Gothic Opera to Present U.K. Premiere of Rare Gounod Opera

By David Salazar

Gothic Opera has announced that it will present the U.K. premiere of Gounod’s “La Nonne sanglante.”

The showcase, which kicks off on Oct. 29, 2021 and features four subsequent performances through Nov. 3, will take place at London’s Hoxton Hall.

Audiences will see a new chamber orchestra arrangement by composer Leon in a production by Director Franciska Éry, who will take inspiration from Victorian science for her mise-en-scène.

“The possibility of the dead appearing to the living and defying all rules of science is what makes Gounod’s opera so compelling. We want to explore the unknown. We want to indulge in it. And be scared by it,” Éry stated in a press release.

“La Nonne sanglante” had its world premiere at the Opéra de Paris in 1854, but proved controversial due to its subject matter. The work’s reputation was subsequently tarnished and it has been rarely performed since. The work is based on an episode from the 1796 novel “The Monk, written by Matthew Gregory Lewis and tells the story of a man who accidentally elopes with the ghost of a nun.

Categories

IndieOpera