Göteborgs Konserthus The Rake’s Progress

Stravinsky’s opera premiered in Venice in 1951, and has since become a firm favourite in the opera repertoire of the 20^th century. No wonder – the story of the rake looking for beauty, pleasure and wealth, forsaking his love for Anne to reach his goals, is as current now as it ever was.

The story takes place in 18^th century London among tricksters and ladies of the night. Bearded lady Baba the Turk plays a dangerous game that ends dramatically at an asylum. The Rake’s Progress had its Swedish premiere at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1961, directed by Ingmar Bergman. The moral of the piece is: “For idle hearts and hands and minds, the Devil finds work to do.”

12 december the doors closes at the start of the concert, since the concert is filmed. Delayed audience will be let in during the break after about 1 hour 15 min. 

Refined staging

In this unique and refined staging, director Linus Fellbom invites the audience to a journey in time and space, from a distant future to the present day, and on to 18^th century London. An experience of the moment where a strange box opens its walls toward different destinies – all under the supervision of conductor Barbara Hannigan.

A love story

The Rake’s Progress is a labour of love for Barbara Hannigan, who has sung the role of Anne Truelove many times at the big opera houses. The young singer soloists were picked in 2017 at international auditions in Stockholm, Zürich, Paris and London, as part of Barbara Hannigan’s mentoring programme Equilibrium. The whole project and the concerts will be filmed for a TV documentary, here is a first trailer from the documentary: