Eleanor is Assistant Director for the Royal Opera House’s powerful new staging of Pushkin’s bittersweet tale. American director Ted Huffman makes his much-anticipated debut for the Royal Opera House Main Stage with a new production that blurs the boundaries between memory, longing and desire. Gordon Bintner stars in the title role, alongside Kristina Mkhitaryan’s Tatyana, Liparit Avetisyan’s Lensky and Avery Amereau making her Royal Opera debut as Olga. Henrik Nánási conducts, drawing out the many, and often conflicting, emotions at the heart of Tchaikovsky’s most popular opera.

Tatyana spends her days lost in the world of romantic books, while to her carefree sister Olga, love is just a game. When Olga’s admirer, the poet Lensky, arrives at their country estate with the brooding Eugene Onegin, sparks fly. Tatyana immediately falls for Onegin and declares her love for him in a letter. Onegin rejects her, telling her that he is not ready for marriage. Heartbroken, Tatyana is forced to put on a brave face at her own birthday party, and matters worsen when Onegin begins flirting with Olga. Lensky is outraged and challenges Onegin to a duel, with deadly consequences. 

Years later, Onegin and Tatyana meet again at a ball in St Petersburg. Haunted by grief and regret, Onegin realises he has made a terrible mistake. But does Tatyana still feel the same? 

After a critically acclaimed run last year and performances at the Royal Opera House and La Monnaie, 555: Verlaine en Prison returns to Grimeborn.

555: Verlaine en prison tells the untold and unjust story one of France’s most celebrated poets, Paul Verlaine who shot and injured his lover, the 17-year old poet Arthur Rimbaud. Despite Rimbaud dropping the charges, Verlaine’s homosexuality ensured that he received the maximum sentence – 555 days in Mons prison. 555: Verlaine en Prison, weaves together settings of Verlaine’s poetry by Debussy, Hahn and Fauré and extracts from his letters and poems to tell the poet’s extraordinary story in his own words.

Cast & Creatives
Writer/Countertenor: Logan Lopez Gonzalez
Writer/Director: Eleanor Burke 
Actor: Anna Sideris
Pianist: Stella Marie Lorenz

Performances
ARCOLA THEATRE
24 Ashwin St, London E8 3DL

Wednesday 4th September 2024, 7.30pm
Thursday 5th September 2024, 7.30pm
Friday 6th September 2024, 7.30pm
Saturday 7th September 2024, 3.30pm & 7.30pm

Eleanor is Assistant Director on Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’s production of Jenůfa. Robert Carsen's purified take on Leoš Janáček's opera takes the audience on a gripping journey along the all-too-human.

With Jenůfa, Leoš Janáček broke through as a music theatre composer once and for all. His third opera is set in the countryside, in a tight-knit community with stifling social control. Jenůfa becomes pregnant from Števa. He promises to marry her but breaks his word. At the highest possible price, Jenůfa’s stepmother, the respected sexton in the village, tries to save the girl’s honour. For his composition, Janáček was guided by the natural rhythm of the Czech language and thus came to an innovative operatic style through which Moravian folk music also meanders.

In what has become one of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’s most successful creations, director Robert Carsen drills down to the core of this poignant psychodrama full of unrequited feelings, envy and good intentions. After a twenty-year journey through the greatest international opera stages – from Spain to Luxembourg, Germany, France and even Japan – our Jenůfa comes home.

In Bohuslav Martinů's surreal Larmes de couteau (1928) a young woman considers two prospective lovers. She is besotted with a hanged man, but her mother urges her to marry their neighbour, Satan. Dada meets foxtrot, jazz, ragtime, and blues, in this one-act opera with a flavour of Kurt Weill and café-théâtre.

Director: Eleanor Burke
Musical Director: Edward Reeve
Set/Costume Designer: Anna Reid        
Lighting Designer: Bethany Gupwell
Movement Director: Sarita Piotrowski
Fight Director: Rich Gittins

Performances: 7.45pm, 26th & 30th April, 2nd & 4th May; 3pm, 28th April

A woman talks to her former lover on the telephone. She teases, flirts, promises, lies and pleads. Finally, telling him again and again that she loves him, she drops the receiver…

Green Opera’s critically-acclaimed OffWestEnd Award nominated production is coming the King’s Head Theatre - “London’s Little Opera House”! Adapted from Jean Cocteau’s play of the same name, this searing monodrama explores the importance of human connection and the universal fear of being alone.

This production is in aid of Maternal Mental Health Alliance (MMHA).

Cast & Creatives
Elle: Katherine McIndoe
Musical Director: André Callegaro
Director: Eleanor Burke

Performances
KING'S HEAD THEATRE
115 Upper St, London N1 1QN

Thursday 14th March 2024, 9pm
Friday 15th March 2024, 9pm
Saturday 16th March 2024, 7pm

Eleanor is Assistant Director for the Royal Opera House’s new production of Elektra. Strauss’ thrilling and audacious adaptation of this Greek tragedy receives a new staging by the award-winning director Christof Loy, conducted by Antonio Pappano.

Grief turns into a violent quest for revenge. King Agamemnon has been murdered by his wife Klytämnestra and her lover, Ägisth. Princess Chrysothemis urges caution, but her sister, Elektra, cannot rest until she has killed her own mother.

With a score memorably described by one critic as ‘the colour of blood’, Richard Strauss’s audacious adaptation of the iconic Greek tragedy has shocked and excited audiences since its 1909 premiere. Expect musical and dramatic fireworks as Christof Loy directs a truly extraordinary cast, with Nina Stemme in the title role and Karita Mattila as the guilt-stricken Klytämnestra.

Eleanor is Assistant Director for Damiano Michieletto’s Olivier Award-winning double production.

In a remote Italian village, two passionate affairs unfold over a single day. In Cavalleria rusticana, the heartbroken Santuzza wrestles with her conscience as her lover Turiddu lusts after another woman. Meanwhile, in Pagliacci, the tormented clown Canio tries to mask his heartache as he prepares to perform – but before long, the on-stage drama descends into real-life tragedy.

Damiano Michieletto’s production offers a visceral account of two unforgettable operatic thrillers. Daniel Oren conducts a dazzling cast featuring Aleksandra Kurzak, Roberto Alagna, Dimitri Platanias, Fabio Sartori and Anna Princeva.

Eleanor directs the Royal Academy of Music’s Opera Scenes with scenes from Le Nozze di Figaro, Dialogues des Carmélites, La Fille du Regiment, Die Zauberflöte, L’elisir d’amore, Albert Herring, The Rape of Lucretia.

Musical Director: Chris White
Lighting Designer: Brett Kasza 
Costume Supervisor: Alice McNicholas
Photography: Sophie Patterson

Eleanor is Assistant Director for George Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s enigmatic new operatic fable.

An ordinary day. A terrible event. The death of her infant child sets in motion one woman’s search for a life-restoring miracle. All she needs to do – in the course of a single day – is find one genuinely happy human being. But when every encounter ends in disappointment, she turns finally to the mysterious owner of a magnificent garden…

Following the success of Written on Skin (2013) and Lessons In Love and Violence (2018), George Benjamin and Martin Crimp return to the Royal Opera House for an enigmatic new operatic fable staged in the Linbury Theatre. Corinna Niemeyer (The Rape of Lucretia) conducts a dynamic young cast, co-directed by Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma.

Co-commission and co-production with Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Opéra national du Rhin, Opéra Comique, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Oper Köln and Teatro di San Carlo

After a triumphant run of Bluebeard’s Castle at Grimeborn 2022 (★★★★★ British Theatre), Green Opera returns to Grimeborn and the Arcola Theatre with a double-bill of monodramas exploring female identity in a modern world where the technology that connects us can leave us feeling more isolated than ever.

At the Statue of Venus, Jake Heggie
A woman waits by a statue of the Goddess of Love to meet a man she has never seen. Her thoughts and emotions are a jumble of hope, uncertainty and self-doubt. Will he like her? Will she like him? Why did she — a proudly successful woman – allow her friends to convince her that she needed a romantic partner to be fulfilled?

La Voix humaine, Francis Poulenc
A woman talks to her former lover on the telephone. She teases, flirts, promises, lies and pleads. Finally, telling him again and again that she loves him, she drops the receiver…

Cast & Creatives
At the Statue of Venus, Rose: Laura Mekhail
La Voix humane, Elle: Katherine McIndoe
Director: Eleanor Burke
Musical Director: Elspeth Wilkes
Set/Costume Designer: Eleanor Burke 
Lighting Designer: Cheng Keng
Co-producer: Community Jameel 
Photography: Nick Rutter 

Performances
Grimeborn Festival
ARCOLA THEATRE
24 Ashwin St, London E8 3DL

Wednesday 6th September 2023, 7.30pm
Thursday 7th September 2023, 7.30pm
Friday 8th September 2023, 7.30pm
Saturday 9th September 2023, 7.30pm

King Harald’s Saga tells the story of the Norwegian invasion of England in 1066 led by King Harald, which ended in defeat at the battle of Stamford Bridge, nineteen days before the successful Norman invasion at the Battle of Hastings.

This staged-premiere of Judith Weir’s one-woman opera, performed by Harriet Burns, features 8 different characters, as well as the part of the Norwegian army, in a site-specific staging in the gardens at Waterperry Opera Festival.

Composed by Judith Weir. Based on the 13th Century Icelandic Saga Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241).

Performances: 12th & 13th August / 3.30pm & 4.30pm

In a Spanish prison, Carmen declares that any person she loves should beware. But even she is unprepared for what will happen when she decides to seduce Don José, a prison guard who initially appears uninterested in her charms. Don José soon abandons his sweetheart Micaëla and his life for Carmen, and joins her and her smuggler friends in the mountains. But Carmen quickly wearies of Don José's possessiveness. When she turns her attentions to the dashing toreador Escamillo, Don José's jealousy erupts into violence and Carmen’s insistence on maintaining her freedom comes at a terrible cost.

Musical director: John Paul Jennings
Stage director: Eleanor Burke
Designer: Raphae Memon
Lighting Design: Paul Need

Performances at 7.15pm on 29th, 30th June & 1 July.

Humperdinck’s magical fairy-tale – in a poignant new retelling by Marginalia

Nothing is right at home: the pressure just to get by is mounting every day and Daddy isn’t around anymore to help. Worse than that, Mummy now hates music and has forgotten how to sing, even though the whole family used to love it so much.

When Hansel and Gretel are banished to the woods, they get to sing to their hearts’ content and are ready for any adventure that might come their way. But in this enchanted forest, nothing is as it seems. Something dark lurks there: a wicked witch who craves to possess their lovely voices… With only their ingenuity to protect them, how will the pair escape her clutches? As they travel through a magical woodland world of flickers and echoes, Hansel and Gretel find that if you hang onto hope, even the darkest moments can be overcome.

Marginalia presents a brand-new interpretation of a nineteenth-century classic: Humperdinck’s opera is part charming children’s songs and part Wagnerian drama. Singing in a new English translation, Marginalia weave original fairy-tale narration into the composer’s colourful musical fabric. This sparkling and high-energy production is perfect for children and adults alike, opera novices and experts: entertaining, innovative, and thought-provoking.

Hansel: Chloë Allison
Gretel: Anna-Luise Wagner
Narrator/Mother/Witch: Evie Florence
Director: Eleanor Burke
Pianist: Luke Fitzgerald

Extracts from Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, translated into English by Chloë Allison, with original narration by Chloë Allison and Rebecca Hare.

Performances at JAM on the Marsh Festival, Kent; Cranleigh School, Surrey; Folkestone Living Advent Calendar.

Eleanor is Assistant Director for Opera Holland Park’s new production of Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, directed by John Wilkie and conducted by Kǎrin Hendrickson.

The Brothers Grimm’s tale of hunger, enchantment, entrapment and rescue has thrilled children and adults for two hundred years. Many adaptations exist but Engelbert Humperdinck’s 1893 opera is by far the most delicious. Charming folksongs and sweeping orchestration cast a potent spell as the siblings Hansel and Gretel venture into the forest to forage for berries, encountering The Sandman, The Dew Fairy and The Gingerbread Witch on their adventure.

This production will be sung in German.

555: Verlaine en prison explores the poet's tragic and turbulent life and his time spent in Mons prison. Featuring music from composers including Debussy, Hahn and Fauré as well as Verlaine's poetry and letters. 

The piece will premiere at La Monnaie/De Munt and then tour to Centre Culturel de Colfontaine in Mons, the town where Verlaine was imprisoned. 

Writer/Countertenor: Logan Lopez Gonzalez

Writer/Director: Eleanor Burke 

Actor: Anna Sideris

Pianist: Stella Marie Lorenz

12.30, 17th February 2023, La Monnaie/De Munt, Brussels, Belgium TICKETS

17.00, 19th February 2023, Centre Culturel de Colfontaine, Mons, Belgium TICKETS

Hampstead Garden Opera presents a fully-staged production, with orchestra and fabulous young opera singers, of Janáček’s timeless and enchanting opera The Cunning Little Vixen.

Captured when young by the Forester, and brought up by him as a pet, Vixen Sharp-Ears escapes back to the wild – but her life continues to interweave with those of the Forester and his friends the pastor, the schoolmaster and the poacher – and the handsome young fox Gold-Stripe.

Sung in the original Czech, with full English surtitles.

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: Eleanor Burke

MUSIC DIRECTOR: Lada Valešová

Winner of the 2023 Off West End (‘Offie’) Opera Performance Award

Gothic Opera presents a double-bill of operas by 19-century female composers: Louise Bertin, Le Loup-garou (The Warewolf), an opera that has never been revived since it's premiere in 1827, and Pauline Viardot, Le Dernier Sorcier (The Last Sorcerer). 

Performed in French with new English dialogue.

Creatives

Writer/Director (Le Loup-garou): Eleanor Burke

Writer/Director: (Le dernier Sorcier): Edwina Strobl 

Musical Director: Juliane Gallant

Production Manager: Chris Mackie

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Performances 

7.30pm, 27th, 28th, 29th, 31st October 2022, 1st November 

The Round Chapel, 1D Glenarm Rd,

Lower Clapton, London E5 0LY

Green Opera brings together artists with a passion for environmental practice in a unique combination of art-installation and theatre. This production of Bartók’s only opera explores the obsessive desire of an artist/muse relationship and how women interact with male fantasies projected upon them. Performed in Hungarian with English surtitles.

This production is generously supported by Arts Council England. 

Performances 

7.30pm 29th August, 30th August, 1st, 2nd, 3rd September 2022

The Arcola Theatre (Grimeborn Festival)

24 Ashwin St, London E8 3DL

7pm 13th, 14th, 18th September 2022

The Asylum Chapel

Caroline Gardens, Asylum Rd, London SE15 2SQ

Marginalia irreverently combines Shakespeare’s timeless words with Bellini’s intoxicating melodies in a newly devised and fully staged production for two singers and an actor, bringing you star-crossed lovers as never before.

Love: Rebecca Hare
Juliet: Anna-Luise Wagner
Romeo: Chloë Allison
Director: Eleanor Burke
Creator: Chloë Allison
Pianist: Aya Robertson/Luke Fitzgerald

Performances:

21 Sept 2022 - Cranleigh School Chapel, Surrey

11 Mar 2022 - Downing Place United Reformed Church, Cambridge

5 Mar 2022 - St Michael at the North Gate, Oxford

29 Oct 2021 - St Gabriel’s Pimlico

22 Oct 2021 - St Margaret's Putney

13 Aug 2021 - St Thomas' Balham

7.30pm, 3rd/4th/5th August 2021 - Tête à Tête Opera Festival, The Playground Theatre

The Crocodile of Old Kang Pow is a comic opera set against the backdrop of fetid 18th Century Paris. The Marquis De Sade has lost his libido and must find it or lose his head to the chopping block of Marie Antoinette. His quest takes him to a mythical world to petition its Crocodile God of fertility. By utilising opera, gospel, puppetry, elixirs, profanity, irreverence and high art with low morals, creator Darren Berry weaves an elaborate, engaging, cautionary tale. Watch the interactive broadcast and find out more here.

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Creatives

Writer/Composer: Darren Berry 

Director/Choreographer: Eleanor Burke 

Musical Director: Eddie Giffney

Puppeteer: Sebastian Mayer

Set/Costume Designer: Rosie Berry

Hair/Makeup: Natasha Lawes

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Cast

The Marquis de Sade: Phil Wilcox

Justine/Marie Antoinette/Virgin Sacrifice: Caroline Kennedy

O’Fela, the Crocodile God: Oscar Castellino

The High Priestess Momolow: Susanne Harriott

The Wizard Mystah Byegee: Jackson Scott

The Pure Ones, Acolytes of O’fela: Zoe Devlin

Narrator: Darren Berry

The Messenger: Emily Raiher

‘Is this all? Is this it all?‘. A violent assault leaves behind a world filled with a crisis of faith both in human behaviour and the laws that govern it. Can there ever truly be justice for what happened? 

Opera Asteria presents a new staging of Britten's chamber opera places the drama in a modern courtroom during the prosecution of Tarquinius as Lucretia confronts Tarquinius and calls for justice. The action moves between depictions of the characters memories of what happened and their giving testimony in court in the present. 

*All proceeds from this performance will be donated to Refuge.

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Creatives

Director: Eleanor Burke

Musical Director: Thomas Payne

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Cast

Male Chorus:  James Micklethwaite

Female Chorus: Alicia Mallace-Goulbourne 

Lucretia: Charlotte Diamond

Tarquinius: Michael Lafferty

Collatinus: Jake Bigwood

Junius: Theo Perry

Bianca: Anna Prowse

Lucia: Emily Kirby-Ashmore

Performances

18th June 2021, 7pm

30th June 2021, 7pm

St Stephen's Church, Dulwich, SE21 7HW