The Barbican will present the UK premiere of Prach Boondiskulchok’s chamber opera “Burmese Days” on June 19, 2027, at LSO St Luke’s.

Commissioned by La Monnaie, “Burmese Days” marks the first time a major European opera house has commissioned a Thai composer. The opera, based on George Orwell’s novel, has a libretto by poet Sarah Howe. The world premiere at La Monnaie takes place June 6, 2027.

William Morgan sings John Flory, with Lotte Betts-Dean as Ma Khin and Mr. Lackersteen, Junyoung Choi as U Po Kyin and Mrs. Lackersteen, Kelsey Lauritano as Ma Hla May and Laurence Servaes as Elizabeth Lackersteen. Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg conducts Het Muziek, formerly the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble. Aïda Gabriëls directs, with dramaturgy by Willem Bruls and Sébastien Herbecq. The production is a collaboration between La Monnaie and Muziektheater Transparant.

The story follows the intrigues at a colonial club house after it is instructed to admit a non-European member. Flory, a teak merchant in his thirties, grows increasingly skeptical of the British Empire, and his conflicted admiration for Burmese culture collides with his idealized image of European womanhood when he falls in love with Elizabeth Lackersteen.

“Anyone who reads the novel can hardly conclude anything other than that Flory is Orwell,” said Boondiskulchok, per an official press release. “This is evident in the artistic sensibility of the character alone. He is critical of the British colonial empire, but he also benefits from it. The theoretical criticism of a system in which you yourself are complicit always entails a certain tension. That is an Orwellian theme. Flory is Orwell, but also you and me.”