Organization

Singer

Bass

Clive Bayley

Father Truelove

Soprano

Miah Persson

Anne Truelove

Tenor

Topi Lehtipuu

Tom Rakewell

Bass-baritone

Matthew Rose

Nick Shadow

Contralto

Susan Gorton

Mother Goose

Mezzo-soprano

Elena Manistina

Baba the Turk

Graham Clark

Sellem

Conductor

Vladimir Jurowski

Stage director

John Cox

Set designer

David Hockney

Duncan Rock

Keeper of the Madhouse

Others

The Glyndebourne Chorus

Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Glyndebourne

English

The Rake's Progress

United Kingdom

Opera House

Ebert Room

The Rake's Progress by I,Stravinsky, from Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 2010. Directed by John Cox, conductor Vladimir Jurowski, starring Matthew Rose, Miah Persson and Topi Lehtipuu. Performed in English and subtitled in English.

Lewes

The devil is hard at work in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress! The three-act opera was premiered at Venice’s La Fenice in 1951 and is whimsically staged and performed in this production from the 2010 Glyndebourne opera festival.

In composing The Rake’s Progress, Stravinsky hoped to combine the spirit of Cosi fan Tutte with the sum of his neoclassical experiences, drawing particular inspiration from Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. While that might seem like a strange laundry list of composers, Stravinsky’s opera avoids becoming a mere pastiche of disparate styles, and in contrast to the corrosively ironic engravings by Hogarth that inspired its story, the work overflows with lyricism and emotion.

Hogarth’s engravings were visually integrated into David Hockney’s famous Glyndebourne staging in the 1970s, a staging that was in this 2010 production. A design “still marvellously fresh”, The Guardian described how, “Hockney's designs mediate between the 18th century and the 20th, just as the score self-consciously shuttles between Mozartian models and modernism.” With “exceptionally strong” music-making of singers, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and conductor Vladimir Jurowski, this benchmark production of Stravinsky’s enigmatic opera is sure to fascinate its audiences.

Comedy and tragedy are never far apart in this Glyndebourne classic, designed by David Hockney.

Isolated pockets of laughter from the audience give the ensemble a boost – not that they need it. Lehtipuu & Co. make every last scene in the story of Tom Rakewell's demise thoroughly convincing. The sometimes grotesquely exaggerated costumes achieve the desired effect. A compelling staging of Stravinsky's wonderfully comic opera about opera that isn't afraid of getting sentimental.

The Rake's Progress Stravinsky

Public

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading