Louis Andriessen: La Commedia

Barbican Hall, London
Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2
United Kingdom
020 7638 8891
http://www.barbican.org.uk/eticketing

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins conductor
Claron McFadden soprano
Cristina Zavalloni female voice
Andrew Sauvageau male voice
Synergy vocals

As the climax of Andriessen: M is for Man, Music & Mystery, a performance of La Commedia: his huge, riotous reinvention of Dante.

Hell, Heaven, and a whole teeming world in between: Dante’s Divine Comedy was the inspiration for Louis Andriessen’s La Commedia, but Andriessen crams every scene of this opera with invention, anarchy and raw creative energy.

The story of La Commedia may be timeless, but Andriessen offers a startlingly new vision of everything he touches. Referencing everything from Bach to Hollywood by way of Stravinsky and electronics, this remains, unmistakably 'a rich, important achievement by one of Europe's greatest living composers' (The Guardian).


Louis Andriessen : La Commedia