King Arthur

This production of King Arthur stands out from the original story, all the while respecting the libretto by the English poet John Dryden. A story is always part of History. We are in the Second World War. Arthur is a little boy. He has just learned about the death of his father. Arthur's mother, Emmeline, is inconsolable; Merlin, Arthur's grandfather, tries to soften the pain caused by the loss of her husband. To do this, the old man tells the true story imagined by John Dryden, about the quest of Arthur, King of Britons, to rescue his fiancée, the princess Emmeline abducted by his sworn enemy, Oswald, King of the Saxons.

This new production staged by Sven-Eric Bechtolf and Julian Crouch is surprising. It alternates between reality and dream. Julian Crouch, also set designer, gives us an almost cinematographic rendering of this Purcell’s masterpiece. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin is conducted by the baton of the internationally renowned conductor René Jacobs.