The Independent
"It’s music as though refracted through a dream, and with a hefty dose of laughing gas."
Read MoreAlice’s Adventures Under Ground
London
28 Nov 2016
Gerald Barry
Alice's Adventures Under Ground (European premiere)
Artists
Thomas Adès
conductor
Barbara Hannigan
Alice
Allison Cook
Red Queen, Queen of Hearts, Duchess, Mock Turtle
Hilary Summers
White Queen, Dormouse, Tiger Lily, Mock Turtle, Cook
Allan Clayton
White King, White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Tweedledum, Frog Footman, Fawn
Peter Tantsits
March Hare, Tweedledee, Mock Turtle, Fish Footman
Mark Stone
White Knight, Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, Soldier
Joshua Bloom
Humpty Dumpty, King of Hearts, Red Knight, Mock Turtle
Summary
Opera through the looking glass: Lewis Carroll meets classical music’s funniest living composer in Gerald Barry’s uproarious new opera.
The surreal imagination of Carroll collides with the off-the-wall humour of the composer in what’ll surely be the most entertaining operatic premiere of the year. Nothing’s as it seems: apart from a knockout cast conducted by Thomas Adès.
The inimitable Barbara Hannigan sings the role of Alice – and if you saw her in Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest, you definitely won’t want to miss her in this: Barry’s described it as ’the next logical step‘. The Daily Telegraph, meanwhile, described Barry’s last opera as ’completely bonkers‘ – which is probably nearer the mark. Only a Mad Hatter would miss Alice.
Barbican Podcast: take a trip down the rabbit hole to explore Gerald Barry’s new work in this podcast featuring the composer himself, Barbara Hannigan and conductor Thomas Adès.
Co-commissioned by the Barbican, Britten Sinfonia and Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.
Produced by Britten Sinfonia and the Barbican
Reviews
Arts Desk
"They play music of blatant speed for flights, runs and train journeys, and pastiches of sundry dances and processionals."
Read MoreBroadway World
"We're all mad in music, Barry seems to say, and nobody more so than the Britten Sinfonia, who under Thomas Ades's baton gamely hurl themselves into a moto perpetuo of a score"
Read MoreThe Guardian
"The uneasy menace that lurks behind some of Carroll’s writing comes out vividly in the orchestra"
Read MoreFinancial Times
"Some of the wildest acrobatics in this concert performance fell to the Britten Sinfonia instrumentalists, who, under Thomas Adès, relished all of them."
Read MoreThe Times
"dazzlingly played by the Britten Sinfonia impelled by Thomas Adès's impassioned conducting"
Read MoreClassical Source
"Thomas Adès, who continues to champion Barry’s music and, one imagines, has some sympathy with Barry’s style, encouraged the Britten Sinfonia’s delirious best in some astonishingly rebarbative and brilliant playing."
Read MoreSunday Express
"Thomas Adès, himself a leading composer, conducts the superb musicians of the Britten Sinfonia."
Read MoreThe Observer
"The Britten Sinfonia, under Adès’s masterly direction, played with awe-inspiring finesse."
Read More
