THE CREATION

14 - 17 July 2016

It was Haydn’s first visit to London in 1791 that set in motion the sequence of events that would lead to his most famous and enduring masterpiece: The Creation. He was handed an English libretto on the creation of the universe, based on the accounts in Genesis and Milton’s Paradise Lost, and resolved to write his first oratorio.

It was a wonderful opportunity for Haydn to create dazzling effects, from the extraordinary depiction of chaos, which opens the work, to the thrilling choral and orchestral sunburst when the chorus relates how ‘God said: Let there be light. And there was light.’ Vivid musical illustrations are painted of the first rain and clouds, animals and birds and ‘fishy denizens of the deep’, concluding with Adam and Eve’s rapturous hymn of praise for their newly made world.

Garsington Opera collaborates with Rambert, Britain’s national dance company, to bring you an inspiring realisation of their own Creation through music and dance.

Douglas Boyd conducts with choreography by Rambert’s Artistic Director Mark Baldwin and performances from the company’s exceptional dancers who will be joined on stage by Garsington Opera’s Orchestra and Chorus. Designs by renowned artist Pablo Bronstein will add a spectacular visual dimension to Haydn’s music.

Sung in English