-
"Improbable is one of the brilliant faces of British Theatre"
The Observer
Akhnaten
Leave your homes, my people. Come see, the old order fades. A new age dawns. Behold, a new power rises. Behold, the sun.
8 Nov – 7 Dec 2019 at The Metropolitan Opera, New York
Akhnaten was originally created by English National Opera and LA Opera in collaboration with Improbable.
If you’re an educator interested in using Akhnaten as a teaching resource, see the Metropolitan Opera’s Education page.
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.
Star countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo is the title pharaoh, the revolutionary ruler who transformed ancient Egypt, with the striking mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges in her Met debut as his wife, Nefertiti. 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 specialist Karen Kamensek conducts in her Met debut.
‘Musically and visually mesmerising’
★★★★★ The Stage
‘Unforgettable magnificence’
★★★★ The Independent
‘A gloriously coloured eye-catching affair’
★★★★ The Guardian
English National Opera in collaboration with Improbable
Co-production with LA Opera
Creative Team of Met Opera 2019
Karen Kamensek
Conductor
Phelim McDermott
Director
Tom Pye
Set Designer
Kevin Pollard
Costume Designer
Bruno Poet
Lighting Designer
Sean Gandini
Skills Ensemble Choreographer
Cast of Met Opera 2019
Anthony Roth Costanzo
Akhnaten
J’Nai Bridges
Nefertiti
Dísella Lárusdóttir
Queen Tye
Will Liverman
Horemhab
Richard Bernstein
Aye
Aaron Blake
High Priest of Amon
Zachary James
The Scribe
Anthony Roth Costanzo (Photo by Tristram Kenton)
Anthony Roth Costanzo, Emma Carrington and Rebecca Bottone (Photo by Tristram Kenton)
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Anthony Roth Costanzo and Zachary James (Photo by Tristram Kenton)
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Emma Carrington (Photo by Tristram Kenton)
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Anthony Roth Costanzo and Emma Carrington (Photo by Tristram Kenton)
Akhnaten rehearsals (Photo by Tristram Kenton)
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Anthony Roth Costanzo (Photo by Tristram Kenton)
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Photo by Tristram Kenton
Current Productions
Time for Respair
We invite you to gather online to dream about and design the kind of sector that could emerge from this pandemic. We want to create conversations that acknowledge the loss and the grief that many of us are feeling and support those who need supporting. Conversations that look beyond the short-term crisis, and which also support new, better ways of working.
Future Sounds
A new three-year programme of opera and music theatre work. From the stories we tell to the process used to tell them, join Improbable in creating music and opera that is in - and of - the moment.
Tao of Glass
An exploration of life, loss and a single question: Where does true inspiration come from? This new collaboration between Philip Glass and Phelim McDermott marries ten meditations on life, death and Taoist wisdom with ten brand new pieces of music.
