Rory Kinnear to Helm THE WINTER'S TALE as Part of ENO's 2016-17 Season; Lineup Announced!

The English National Opera has announced its 2016/17 season, showcasing an extraordinary range of work -- from the return of beloved classics to exciting new productions and a world premiere.

In total 11 productions will be staged at four different venues. From 2016/17, the ENO will produce an Autumn and Spring season of work at the London Coliseum, with the Summer period devoted to producing work at a range of venues around London and beyond. Over the next three years, the company will build on this programming schedule. By 2018/19, the ENO will produce 10 productions at the London Coliseum, with a further five in outside venues.

Opening the 2016/17 Season is a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, directed by Olivier Award-winning director Richard Jones, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth.

Christopher Purves takes the title role, with Clive Bayley playing Leporello, Caitlin Lynch playing Donna Anna, Allan Clayton playing Don Ottavio, Christine Rice playing Donna Elvira and Mary Bevan in the role of Zerlina.

Opening in November, South African artist and director William Kentridge makes his debut at ENO with his new production of Berg's Lulu, a production which has already been performed to great critical acclaim at Dutch National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Mark Wigglesworth conducts an exceptional cast which includes Brenda Rae, who makes her ENO debut, in the title role, Sarah Connolly as Countess Geschwitz, Nicky Spence as Alwa and Sir Willard White as Schigolch.

Undoubtedly the biggest highlight of the 2016/17 season is the World Premiere of Ryan Wigglesworth's The Winter's Tale, with Rory Kinnear making his directorial debut. Kinnear has performed a number of Shakespearian roles, including Laertes in Phyllida Lloyd's Hamlet (Old Vic), Angelo in Measure for Measure(Almeida Theatre), the title role in Hamlet and Iago inOthello (both for National Theatre). Kinnear won Best Actor in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in both 2010 and 2013 (alongside Adrian Lester) and also won an Olivier Award for his portrayal of Iago in 2013. Kinnear is best known for playing the character of Bill Tanner in the James Bond films Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre.

The Winter's Tale is ENO Composer-in-Residence Ryan Wigglesworth's first opera. Ryan will also conduct the world premiere, which features a world-class British cast, including Iain Paterson as Leontes, Sophie Bevan as Hermione, Leigh Melrose as Polixenes and Susan Bickley as Paulina.

The 2016/17 season will see the beginning of new partnerships with the Hackney Empire and the Southbank Centre. The partnership with Hackney Empire will enable us to explore a series of new repertoire that has recently been commissioned by Opera Philadelphia. The first work, Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD, is a biographical chamber opera that tells the story of the African-American bebop pioneer Charlie Parker through Daniel Schnyder's jazz-infused score.

Our partnership with the Southbank Centre begins in the summer of 2017 with a concert hall staging of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius. Further information about ENO's partnership with the Southbank Centre will be announced in due course.

For the first time in many years, ENO will leave London. We'll be taking Jonathan Miller's much-loved production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado to the Opera House at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool for 10 performances, opening on 25 May 2017.

The Mikado was first performed by ENO at the London Coliseum on 27 September 1986, featuring an all-star cast including Lesley Garrett, Dame Felicity Palmer, Richard Angas, and Eric Idle in the role of Ko-Ko. Since the first production, The Mikado has been performed more than 200 times, played to over 400,000 audience members at the London Coliseum and has been broadcast on ITV (in 1987) and screened live to cinemas across the UK and internationally (3 December 2015).

We're also bringing back some audience favourites next season, including Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, which will receive its first revival. First performed in May 2015, Mike Leigh's production of The Pirates of Penzance became our most successful opera production, performing to more than 75,000 people at the London Coliseum or at one of 400+ cinemas across the UK and Ireland. The live broadcast of The Pirates of Penzance is still currently the most successful cinema screening of opera in the UK.

Jonathan Miller's classic production of Verdi's Rigoletto returns to ENO for its 13th revival. First seen in 1982 and last revived in 2009, this Little Italy 'mafia' inspired production is conducted by Richard Armstrong with Nicholas Pallesen in the title role.

Other revivals in the 2016/17 season include Catherine Malfitano's production of Puccini's Tosca, conducted by Oleg Caetani and starring Keri Alkema as Tosca, Gwyn Hughes-Jones as Cavaradossi and Craig Colclough as Scarpia. Penny Woolcock's production of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers returns to ENO, conducted by Roland Böer with Claudia Boyle playing Leila and Robert McPherson as Nadir.

The Coliseum season comes to an end with Christopher Alden's Olivier-Award winning production of Handel's Partenope, conducted by Christian Curnyn with Sarah Tynan in the title role.

Photo Credit: Piers Allardyce

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