Into the Little Hill

The London Sinfonietta, The Opera Group and ROH2 present a new production of George Benjamin's first stage work. Created in collaboration with playwright Martin Crimp (Attempts on Her Life), this lyric tale is a modern re-telling of the Pied Piper Myth.

The production will open in the Linbury Studio Theatre at the Royal Opera House on 14 February for four performances, followed by a tour to Oxford, Basingstoke and Leeds.

The performers will be Claire Booth (soprano), Susan Bickley (mezzo-soprano) and the London Sinfonietta, conducted by George Benjamin.

The production is directed by John Fulljames and designed by Soutra Gilmour with lighting design by Jon Clark.

Press Reviews

‘Benjamin's score…is a transcendentally beautiful piece, perfectly scaled to Martin Crimp's taut libretto, which updates the Pied Piper story. Bickley and Booth were outstanding, too, getting every word across effortlessly’
The Guardian

‘…it was mesmerising. There was nowhere to hide from Booth's marvelously angry, protesting Child and Bickley's mendacious Minister, slyly making a pact to exterminate the rats. Nor from the visceral power of Benjamin's score - by turns eerie, abrasive, sad and lyrical. And Crimp's clever twist on this familiar tale, turning it into a parable of political cynicism, xenophobia and social dysfunction, seemed coruscatingly topical.’
The Times

‘‘This taut, allegorical updating by the librettist Martin Crimp of the Pied Piper story is set to music of the utmost subtlety. Rare colours such as those of bass flute, basset horn, contrabass clarinet and banjo are invested with palpable theatrical power…’
Sunday Times

‘Every piece of music leaves its own particular silence in its wake: the silence left after this work's last notes sounded was exquisite.’
Independent

‘The score is strong on instrumental atmosphere, finely realised here by the London Sinfonietta under the composer’s baton.’
The Stage

To see photos from this production and Down by the Greenwood Side by Harrison Birtwistle, which was performed in a double bill with Into the Little Hill, click here: Photo Slideshow.