Description
Artists
Performers (Metropolitan Opera 2022): Queen Tye: Dísella Lárusdóttir Nefertiti: Rihab Chaieb Akhnaten: Anthony Roth Costanzo High Priest of Amon: Aaron Blake Horemhab: Will Liverman Aye: Richard Bernstein Amenhotep III: Zachary James Philip Glass’ opera Akhnaten (Akhenaten), premiered in Stuttgart in 1984, forms the third part of the portrait opera trilogy about personalities who have influenced the course of human history. The conclusion of the trilogy deals with the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, who attempted to establish a kind of monotheistic cult around the god Aton during his reign in the 14th century BC, but failed due to the resistance of the priesthood. The production presented here was without a doubt one of the very big successes of the 2019/20 season at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, due not only to the outstanding cast of singers (led by countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo), but also to Phelim McDermott’s imaginative staging, which captivates with sometimes breathtaking images. Leave your homes, my people. Come see, the old order fades. A new age dawns. Behold, a new power rises. Behold, the sun. Akhnaten is a mesmerising work whose text draws on ancient hymns, prayers and inscriptions sung in their original Egyptian, Hebrew and Akkadian. The opera’s unique mood will transport you to the ancient world through music that combines Glass’s characteristic minimalist voice with stylised movement and choreographed juggling to visualise the rhythms of his score. To match the opera’s hypnotic, ritualistic music, McDermott has created an arresting vision that includes Gandini Juggling’s virtuosic company of acrobats and jugglers. Philip Glass’s mesmerizing modern masterpiece returns in Phelim McDermott’s unforgettable production to the Metropolitan Opera House, New York (19 May – 10 June 2022) and English National Opera (11 March. – 5 April 2023) bringing ancient Egypt to vivid life with striking stage tableaux and a troupe of jugglers. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo reprises his celebrated turn as the revolutionary pharaoh Akhnaten and once again at the helm is conductor Karen Kamensek, a noted master of Glass’s music. ORANGE MOUNTAIN MUSIC presents this great work as both a DVD using a performance from November 23, 2019 and a CD recording.
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