Philip Venables

A composer of ferocious dramatic instincts
— Alex Ross

Tag: Karen Bandelow

4.48 Psychose revival at the Semperoper Dresden

The Semperoper in Dresden has announced a third run of performances of 4.48 Psychose, postponed from 2021. The opera had its german premiere run at Semper Zwei in April/May 2018, with sold-out performances. The dates next season will be 16, 18, 21, 22, 25 and 26th March 2023, and tickets can be booked here.

The 2018 production by Tobias Heyder, conducted by Max Renne, will feature Sarah Maria Sun, Karen Bandelow, Samantha Price, Sarah Alexandra Hudarew, Karina Repova, Tahnee Niboro and the Semperoper Projektorchester. Design is by Stephan von Wedel, light by Marco Dietzel, video by Benedikt Schulte and dramaturgie by Juliane Schunke.

14 September 2022
Press images of 4.48 Psychosis in Paris by Quentin Chevrier

Some production images from the Ensemble Intercontemporain concert performance of 4.48 Psychosis, December 2021, at the Philharmonie de Paris as part of the portrait of my work in the Festival d’Automne à Paris. The ensemble was conducted by Matthias Pintscher, the singers were Gweneth-Ann Rand, Robyn Allegra Parton, Karen Bandelow, Samantha Price, Rachael Lloyd and Lucy Schaufer, with video by Pierre Martin and Mise-en-Espace by Elayce Ismail. All images by Quentin Chevrier. They can be used for press purposes with the appropriate credit.

2 January 2022
Reviews of 4.48 Psychosis with Intercontemporain / Pintscher

The Festival d’Automne à Paris and Ensemble Intercontemporain gave a concert performance of 4.48 Psychosis on 16th December 2021. The concert was part of the Festival feature about my work, and took place in the Cité de la Musique in the Philharmonie de Paris. The concert featured singers Gweneth Ann Rand, Robyn Allegra Parton, Karen Bandelow, Samantha Price, Rachael Lloyd and Lucy Schaufer, and was conducted my Matthias Pintscher, with Aurélien Gignoux and Gilles Durot taking the solo percussion roles. Nicholas Berteloot and Emmanuelle Corbeau did sound design, Elayce Ismail looked after ‘mise en espace’ and lights, and Pierre Martin the video.

There was a short introduction on Radio France here.

There have been some reviews online of the performance. Here are some excerpts (machine translated):

“The incantation, the closed-mouth singing, the variations in the speed of language, the choral flows: more than a work on the voice itself, it is the dialectic of breath and emission that runs through the work. Philip Venables’ writing takes over the form, like drugs cannibalising the mind.” — Opera Online

“Philip Venables’ music magnifies this text, with contrasts and even a touch of black humour, by alternating, sometimes abruptly, between very oppressive moments and others that are tender but always with an underlying anguish, taking the listener into this whirlwind of despair.” — Olyrix

“an opera that pushes the limits of the genre and whose emotional force embraces us.” — ResMusica

“At a time when so many composers are trying their hand at opera, paradoxically there are not so many who are convincing in this exercise. All the more reason to give due recognition to the British composer Philip Venables (born in 1979), whose Paris premiere of 4.48 Psychosis confirms his undeniable talent for the genre” — Premiere Loge

22 December 2021
Interview / Trailer video for 4.48 Psychosis

The Philharmonie de Paris have just released this trailer video in advance of the concert performance of 4.48 Psychosis there on Thursday 16th December with Ensemble Intercontemporain, in a co-production with the Festival d’Automne à Paris. The 9-minute video features a short interview with me about the piece, and some clips of the staged production from Strasbourg.

9 December 2021
4.48 Psychosis announced at Philharmonie de Paris / Festival d’Automne with Ensemble Intercontemporain

4.48 Psychosis will be performed in concert by Ensemble Intercontemporain on 16th December 2021 in the Cité de la Musique at the Philharmonie de Paris, as part of the feature on my work in the Festival d’Automne 2021. The performance will be conducted by Matthias Pintscher, and sung by Gweneth Ann Rand, Robyn Allegra Parton, Karen Bandelow, Samantha Price, Rachael Lloyd and Lucy Schaufer.

There will be a public talk before the performance with me and Arnaud Merlin of Radio France.

More information and tickets are here.

5 July 2021
More dates for 4.48 Psychose in Dresden

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Semperoper in Dresden have announced more dates next season for their production of 4.48 Psychose. The opera had its german premiere run in Semper Zwei in April/May this year, with sold-out performances. The dates next season will be 7th, 9th, 10th, 13th and 15th September, and tickets can be booked here.

Sempoeroper have made a new video trailer of the production using rehearsal footage, which you can watch, above.

24 June 2019
Semperoper announces 4.48 Psychose

4.48 Psychose will gets its premiere at Dresden’s Semperoper Zwei next year. This will be a new version of 4.48 Psychosis in German, based on the official translation of Sarah Kane’s play by Durs GrÃ¼nbein. The premiere will take place on 26th April 2019, and there will be other events surrounding it, including a portrait concert of some of my chamber work. I’m excited to get working on the new score for the german version this summer – because of the tight knitting of text and music, about 40% of the opera needs to be re-scored. More information about the performances are here.

8 March 2018