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Benjamin and Crimp’s Picture a day like this Makes its Italian Debut at Teatro San Carlo

Oct. 18, 2025

On October 24, George Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s Picture a day like this receives its Italian premiere at the Teatro San Carlo, in the world premiere production by Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma, conducted by Corrine Niemayer. 

The opera, which lasts just over an hour, is cast in seven scenes. It tells the story of a Woman who has lost her child: if, before nightfall, she meets one truly happy person and cuts a button from their sleeve, her child will live again. In this search she meets a pair of Lovers, a Composer and their Assistant, an Artisan, Collector, and the mysterious Zabelle.

Listen to the world premiere recording of Picture a day like this on Spotify here.

The fourth collaboration from the celebrated partnership of composer and playwright, Picture a day like this was co-commissioned and co-produced by the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, Opéra national du Rhin, Opéra Comique, and les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Oper Köln and Teatro di San Carlo. The cast comprises Xenia Puskarz Thomas (Woman), Anna Prohaska (Zabelle), Marion Tassou (Lover 1/Composer), Cameron Shahbazi (Lover 2/Composer’s Assistant) and John Brancy (Artisan/Collector).


Picture A Day Like This, Scene 2: The Lovers/Marianne Crebassa/Beate Mordal/Cameron Shahbazi/
Mahler Chamber Orchestra/George Benjamin, conductor

In July 2025, Niemayer – who previously gave the UK and Luxembourg debuts of the opera – conducted the Austrian premiere of the work at the Tiroler Festspiele, lauded by critics. “The text is dramatically dense. The music flows sensitively…bursting forth and bringing each scene to its climax…despite the small forces it is intense and rich with colour”, Helmut Christian Mayer wrote in Der Kurier; “an example of how accessible a contemporary opera can be, even if its creators make no compromises”, noted the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Picture a day like this will receive its German premiere at Oper Köln in May 2026, with Christian Karlsen conducting. The world premiere recording on Nimbus, with the composer conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the original cast from the Aix Festival, has been nominated for a Gramophone Award in the Contemporary category.  

To learn more about George Benjamin, visit fabermusic.com.

George Benjamin
Picture a day like this (2021-2023)
an opera in seven scenes
libretto (Eng) by Martin Crimp
Woman, mezzo-soprano; Zabelle, soprano; Lover 1/Composer, soprano; Lover 2/Composer's Assistant, counter-tenor; Artisan/Collector, baritone
1(pic+bfl).1.2(I.t.recorder, II.basset horn+t.recorder).cbcl(cl+bcl).1(cbsn+b.recorder)- 2.2(pic.tpt).1.0- 2perc (I: 2 crot/2 t.bells/cym/whip/2 cabasas/guiro/2 bongos/SD/tenor drum. II: 4 t.bells)-hp-cel-2 vn.2 va.2vc.db(db requires low B extension or 5 strings)
60'

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