About The Monster in the Maze
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence have co-commissioned composer Jonathan Dove to write an opera scored for professional musicians with amateur singers (children and adults) and young pre-professional instrumentalists drawn from our local communities.
The idea for the co-commission was led by Sir Simon Rattle and Simon Halsey and the project is designed to celebrate the arts organisation’s relationship with its community. The piece is designed to work within the parameters of a concert hall, however each production will be very different in each country, with each co-commissioner producing its own production in its own language and with its own unique staging and vision.
For the opera, composer Jonathan Dove and his regular librettist Alasdair Middleton sought a universal topic which can be told by a large group of children, and which would not require elaborate scenery. They decided on the ancient Greek story which tells of the rescue from the Labyrinth, by Theseus, of young Athenians sent to Crete as a sacrifice to the Minotaur.
The piece is scored for three professional soloists and a professional actor, adult community chorus, youth chorus, children’s chorus, and an orchestra of professional players playing alongside young or pre-professional players.
Licensed by arrangement with Edition Peters.
The story
Minos, king of the island of Crete, has a labyrinth in his palace in which he keeps the Minotaur, a monster – half man and half bull – which feeds on human flesh. To press home a military victory over Athens, Minos decrees that the Athenians should provide a regular supply of their young people to be sacrificed to the monster. The Athenian hero Theseus joins one of these shiploads, slays the Minotaur, and sails home with the Athenian youths.
The traditional story is simplified: there is nothing about the parentage of the Minotaur or the help given to Theseus by the king’s daughter, Ariadne; the Athenians find their way out of the maze with the assistance of Daedalus, its architect, who escapes with them rather than, as in the myth, by an aerial route.
Performances
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Florian Hoffmann Theseus
Eva Vogel Mother
Pavlo Hunka Daedalus
Götz Schubert Minos
Gabriel Manz Minotaur
Vokalhelden-Projektchor
Simon Halsey choral director
Berliner Philharmoniker and Young Musicians
Alasdair Middleton libretto
German adaptation by Arne Muus
Annechien Koerselman stage director
Uta Materne designer
World Premiere
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Andrew Rees Theseus
Yvonne Howard Mother
Joshua Bloom Daedalus
Malcolm Storry Minos
LSO Discovery Junior Choir (Lucy Griffiths conductor)
LSO Discovery Senior Choir and LSO Community Choir (David Lawrence conductor)
Simon Halsey choral director
Guildhall Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
Alasdair Middleton libretto
Thomas Guthrie stage director
Rhys Jarman designer
UK Premiere
This concert also included a performance of Walton Symphony No 1, performed by LSO players side-by-side with Guildhall School musicians.
Sir Simon Rattle conductor
Damien Bigourdan Theseus
Lucie Roche Mother
Damien Pass Dedalus
Miloud Khétib Minos
Chorus of children, teenagers and adults
Simon Halsey choral director
Orchestre des Jeunes de la Méditerranée
London Symphony Orchestra
Alasdair Middleton libretto
French adaptation by Alain Perroux
Marie-Ève Signeyrole stage director
Fabien Teigné designer
Philippe Berthomé lighting
First Fully-Staged Performance
The Creative Team
With thanks
Berliner Philharmoniker
Project supported by
London Symphony Orchestra
The LSO choirs taking part in this production are part of LSO Sing. LSO Sing is generously supported by the John S Cohen Foundation, the J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust and Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement.
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
A project supported by the patrons of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
Franco-British fund for contemporary music, thanks to the support of the Institut Français, the Sacem, the British Council, Bureau Export and the French Ministry of Culture
Mr. & Mrs. PAUL ALBRECHT – Mr. & Mrs. LAURENCE BLACKALL – Mr. & Mrs. CHRISTOPHER CARTER
Mr. NICOLAS D. CHAUVET – Mrs. ISABEL ETTEDGUI – Mr. & Mrs. RAPHAËL KANZA
Mr. & Mrs. Michel-Yves Bolloré – Mr. & Mrs. Peter Espenhahn – Mr. & Mrs. Rupert Hambro
Mr. & Mrs. Christian Schlumberger – Mr. & Mrs. Henri-Michel Tranchimand