George Benjamin / Martin Crimp / Daniel Jeanneteau

Into the Little Hill

Archive 2006

Music

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Into the Little Hill, for two voices and ensemble (2004-2006)
A lyric tale
Composed by George Benjamin
Original text: Martin Crimp
Commissioned by Festival d’Automne à Paris in partnership with Ernst-von-Siemens Foundation for the music, Opéra National de Paris, Ensemble Modern and Forberg Schneider Foundation
World premiere, preceded by Viola, Viola, for two violas (1997) Three Miniatures, for violin (2001)
Designed and directed by Daniel Jeanneteau
Artistic collaboration and lighting design: Marie-Christine Soma
Costumes, Olga Karpinsky
Anu Komsi, soprano
Hilary Summers, contralto
Ensemble Modern
Musical director: Franck Ollu
Jagdish Mistry, violon solo
Geneviève Strosser, Garth Knox, alto solo
Co-produced by Festival d’Automne à Paris, Opéra national de Paris, T&M, Oper Frankfurt, Lincoln Center Festival, Wienerfestwochen, Holland Festival and Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008
With the support of the British Council

George Benjamin is a piano virtuoso, a precocious composer and a brilliant conductor. He is also a poet, as is obvious in this first of a mutli-part portrait offered by the festival. From an evocation of orchestral music with the help of only two violas to his lyric collaboration with playwright Martin Crimp, Benjamin displays the whole palette of a fiery perfectionist, full of energy and humor.

George Benjamin, Martin Crimp
Picture a day like this

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Picture a day like this, the fourth opera by two master-craftsmen, one of words, the other of sound, Martin Crimp and George Benjamin, is a universal tale which is as unreal as it is full of emotions. The piece is a magical fable about human nature and self-discovery.

George Benjamin / Martin Crimp / Daniel Jeanneteau