Alexander Goehr - Promised End

Leading British composer Alexander Goehr’s fifth opera, Promised End, will receive its world premiere in London on 9th October at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre before embarking on a UK tour.  A meditation on Shakespeare’s King Lear, directed by James Conway and presented by English Touring Opera, the production will feature a fine cast including Roderick Earle as Lear, Nigel Robson as Gloucester and Lina Markeby as Cordelia alongside award-winning, contemporary ensemble Aurora conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth.

Promised End consists of 24 short scenes, selected, distilled and re-arranged by the composer and the great Shakespeare scholar Sir Frank Kermode who sadly passed away in late August. The effect is to emphasise one aspect of the great play: King Lear and the Earl of Gloucester, men who in their prime committed errors of judgment, bringing upon themselves their own tragic destinies.

Goehr has drawn upon a range of influences in creating what he says will be his last opera and. He describes the original idea as being inspired by Japanese Noh theatre and dance, also citing influences such as the King Lear film adaptation of Koznitsev (with Shostakovich’s score), Bertolt Brecht, Ezra Pound, and a film by director Miklós Jancsó featuring a Hungarian military band – on which Goehr’s orchestration is partly based.
 

Promised End will open at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theater on Saturday 9th October before touring to Malvern, Bexhill, Exeter, Crawley, Cambridge and Aldeburgh.

• Goehr - Profile
• English Touring Opera
• Royal Opera House