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Written on Skin's UK Premiere at the Royal Opera House; New Limited Edition Autographed Score Available from Faber Music

Mar. 29, 2013

<em>Written on Skin</em>'s UK Premiere at the Royal Opera House; New Limited Edition Autographed Score Available from Faber Music

George Benjamin’s second opera Written on Skin, which debuted at the Festival International d'Art Lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence on July 7, 2012, has just completed its UK premiere run at the Royal Opera House. Already in the opera’s short life, Written on Skin is being overwhelmingly regarded as a masterpiece of the operatic repertoire. Partnering again with dramatist Martin Crimp, his collaborator on Into the Little Hill, Benjamin has adapted the ancient Occitan legend of the 12th-century troubadour Guillem de Cabestany, who seduces a jealous man’s wife only to have his head severed and his heart fed to his lover. A story of adultery, jealousy and vengeance, Crimp creates a gripping narrative out of this gruesome tale that also deals with themes of emancipation, identity, literature and art.

Faber Music has now published a limited edition autographed full score of Written on Skin. Details on the score can be found here and the Nimbus recording is available for purchase here. The Financial Times dubbed Written on Skin a “superb” opera and following is just a brief sampling of what others are saying about the opera:

…immaculate…fusing the legacy of twentieth-century modernism with glimpses of a twenty-first-century tonality… Written on Skin feels like the work of a genius unleashed.
- The New Yorker

atmospheric, descriptive, sensual and evocative.  Benjamin uses orchestral groups adroitly, sparingly, and tops them with vocal lines that are gloriously singable. Written on Skin will long outlive this run.The piece is superb.
- The Financial Times, UK

...the best since Wozzeck... In other words, ...the pinnacle of contemporary output...’
- Le Monde

[Benjamin] has produced a slow-burning but gripping 100-minute psychological chiller in which moods, mysteries and motives are evoked with stunning economy of musical means...  It’s masterly...
- The Times, UK

Benjamin’s score is more impassioned, more sensuously beautiful and, at times, more fiercely dramatic than anything he has written before.
- The Guardian, UK

Written on Skin is almost certainly headed straight for any list of the best operas of the 21st century so far.
- France Today

Written on Skin was commissioned by the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in cooperation with the Nederlands Opera Amsterdam, the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Learn more on the opera’s Royal Opera House production by visiting www.roh.org.uk.

Information on the life and work of George Benjamin are found at www.fabermusic.com.

For a complete review digest, go to www.fabermusic.com.

George Benjamin
Written on Skin (2012)
opera in three parts
libretto (Eng.) by Martin Crimp
for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone and countertenor
3(2.pic, 3.pic & afl).2.2.bcl(cl).cbcl.2(2.cbsn)-4.4(1.ptpt).3.1-4perc-harp-glass harmonica–bass viola da gamba-str(8.6.6.6.4)
ca. 95’

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