Summary

“When I find the Swanlights, my eyes cry species, casting green and gold upon the black water.”

The Royal Opera House presents the first London performances of Antony and the Johnsons: Swanlights – a remarkable meditation on light, nature and femininity. Originally commissioned by New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Swanlights enjoyed huge acclaim when it was presented at Radio City Music Hall in January 2012 and the 2012 Melbourne Festival.

The piece features songs from all four of Antony and the Johnsons’ albums – self-titled, The Crying Light, Swanlights and Mercury Prize-winning I am a Bird Now – and is backed by Britten Sinfonia, with orchestral arrangements by Nico Muhly, Rob Moose and Maxim Moston. Light artist Christ Levine, lighting designer Paul Normandale, set designer Carl Robertshaw and lighting director Emma Westerberg collaborate on the evocative designs: ‘layered screen projections and lasers swept the darkened theatre, gradually revealing the singer in these ethereal surrounds’ (Time Out New York).