Groot succes DNO´s ´A Dog's Heart` bij English National Opera

De Nederlandse Opera's "A Dog's Heart" is a big success at the English National Opera

7 December 2010

The premiere of De Nederlandse Opera's ("DNO") production of "A Dog's Heart" met with huge success at the English National Opera ("ENO") at the London Coliseum.

DNO commissioned this first opera from Russian composer Alexander Raskatov. The world premiere of "A Dog's Heart", which is based on Mikhail Bulgakov's satirical’25 novella Heart of a Dog, was held on 7 June 2010 at Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam under the direction of British director Simon McBurney. Martin Pickard translated the Russian libretto into English for the performances in London (through Saturday, 4 December 2010).

The laudatory reviews of the Amsterdam performances were continued by the British press attending the London premiere:

Financial Times, 22 November 2010:
'As reported on this page from the Amsterdam premiere, McBurney and his design team (Michael Levine, Christina Cunningham, Paul Anderson and Finn Ross) have found a means of filling out Raskatov's lean score and animating Bulgakov's story in a way that makes us believe a puppet-dog is real and a tenor really is a dog.'

The Guardian, 22 November 2010:
'This is McBurney's first opera production, but you would never know it. All the stagecraft of his Complicite work transfers beautifully to opera.'

Evening Standard, 22 November 2010:
'it may seem surprising that Simon McBurney of Complicite fame, one of the most innovative and exuberant of directorial talents, has never before tackled opera. Thanks to Pierre Audi and De Nederlandse Opera, co-promoters of A Dog's Heart, McBurney has at last been persuaded to put those talents to use on the lyric stage.'

Pierre Audi, Artistic Director of De Nederlandse Opera:
'We are exceedingly proud that this DNO production met with such great success in England. The responses to the London premiere were overwhelming. Other premier opera houses in Western Europe, Russia and the United States are also planning to present their audiences with this production of "A Dog's Heart".'

As a sponsor, CMS Derks Star Busmann would like to congratulate De Nederlandse Opera on this splendid triumph.