Based on the 1945 novel of the same name by George Orwell and serving as an allegory of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, the film features an ensemble cast including Kelsey Grammer, Ian Holm, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Stewart, Julia Ormond, Paul Scofield, Charles Dale, Pete Postlethwaite, Alan Stanford and Peter Ustinov.

The opera is directed by Damiano Michieletto and will premiere on the 3rd of March 2023.Animal Farm is a 1999 political comedy-drama television film directed by John Stephenson and written by Alan Janes. Petersburg, Paris, Berlin, and Kiev.Īnimal Farm is part of the Opera Forward Festival. She obtained her bachelor’s degrees in Literature and Russian at the University of Amsterdam and studied History at Leiden University. In the summer of 2022 she directed a new production of Tristan und Isolde together with Zack Winokur at the Santa Fe Opera (‘There is a refreshing feeling of trust to it all, a sensible desire not to get in the way of what clearly remains to these young collaborators a basically human story - and a willingness, perhaps above all, to make space for the music.’ The New York Times).Įva Peek is a book critic at NRC and an editor at de Nederlandse Boekengids. Following this success she created I have missed you forever, a new production for DNO, further exploring collaborative process in opera, that premiered at ITA during the Opera Forward Festival 2022.

She made her main stage debut at Dutch National opera in 2020 with a new creation: Faust (“an important contribution to the renewal of the genre of musical theatre: away from the museum right into the middle of social actuality” (Bachtrack). Lisenka Heijboer Castañón is a young Dutch-Peruvian director and theatre maker. In his adaptation of Animal Farm, Raskatov has infused his own personal allusions to Russia’s complex political history (and reality). What similarities can we draw between the story of Animal Farm and today’s world? Can opera, as an art form, be used to address current societal issues? And how do the artists behind the opera reflect on their work in the context of today’s social and political climate?įollowing the discussion, live music from the opera will be performed by cast members from the production Marcel Beekman and Francis van Broekhuizen.Īlexander Raskatov (1953) is a highly acclaimed Russian composer. In this episode of Behind the libretto, programme editor Isabel Sheridan and her guests will delve into the central themes of the opera and their relevance to contemporary society. ‘All animals are equal but some are more equal than others’: Animal Farm is an operatic adaptation of George Orwell’s classic novel, depicting the struggles of farm animals as they overthrow their human ruler and ultimately fall under the control of a new leader from their own ranks.

Animal farm farm