Talking of Minotaurs.... can anyone who knows about these things confirm that Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur is definitely down for 2007-2008 at the ROH?
Well, I know nothing, George, but according to some people I know who know it's "down" for 2008 with John Tomlinson in the title role and Christine Rice as Ariadne. Rice isn't mentioned in the following, which however has more of an air of gospel about it, being taken from
http://www.boosey.com/pages/Opera/news/further_info.asp?NewsID=11290&LangID= :
The Minotaur (2005-07)
Libretto by David Harsent
Royal Opera House, London
Premiere: 15 April 2008
Stephen Langridge Director
Antonio Pappano Conductor
Harrison Birtwistle has been tracking the Minotaur as a theme for decades, exploring many musical labyrinths in preparation. An early inspiration for the composer came from Minotaurus, a ballad with drawings by Dürrenmatt. The final opera tells the mythical story not only from Ariadne and Theseus’s perspectives, but also from that of the Minotaur – the ‘man-beast, half-and-half’ doomed to be trapped ‘in a cage with no key’ – as much to be pitied as feared. The title role is to be created by John Tomlinson, who sang the Green Knight in Birtwistle’s earlier opera for Covent Garden, Gawain.On a not quite relevant note, the following distracted me pleasurably while I was googling around in the (vain) hope of supplementing the above info:
http://www.lidiavianu.go.ro/David%20Harsent.htm
