Producer & Director
The Rake’s Progress (concert staging)
3 November 2018 | southbank centre
Stravinsky The Rake’s Progress
Conductor Vladimir Jurowski
Director Tamzin Aitken
Lighting Design Malcolm Rippeth
Soloists Clive Bayley (Trulove), Kim Begley (Sellem), Sophia Burgos (Anne), Marie McLaughlin (Mother Goose), Matthew Rose (Nick Shadow), Toby Spence (Tom Rakewell), Andrew Watts (Baba the Turk)
Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra
Chorus London Voices
In 2018 I produced and directed a concert staging of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at Royal Festival Hall as part of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s year-long celebration of Stravinsky’s music. At the time I was part of the Concerts Team at the LPO, and the faith the Orchestra placed in me to both direct and produce this opera felt like a huge gift. I worked closely with conductor, Vladimir Jurowski, to agree an interpretation and shape for the piece and I am immensely proud of the playful, moving, deft staging we were able to achieve with just a week of rehearsals and minimal budget.
★★★★ | David Nice, The Arts Desk “As with all the best Rakes, this one was ultimately moving to tears […] At last [Jurowski] got a mise en scène worthy of his total fluency.”
★★★★ | Alexandra Coghlan, The Critics Circle “Placed centre-stage, Jurowski and the LPO – on warm, almost genial form – were the engine not just of the music but the drama too, absolutely integrated into a witty, neatly suggestive semi-staging.”
Press & Media
Reviews
★★★★★ | Paul Driver, The Times, “Staged with a panache that made the absence of scenery irrelevant, this was compelling theatre as well as terrific music-making.”
★★★★★ | Alexander Campbell, Classical Source “The director should take considerable credit for their suggestive, alternatively witty and chilling, deft handling of the action. There were some vivid touches such as the removal of Vladimir Jurowski’s podium to become Sellem’s auction platform, the suggestion that the harpsichord was Tom Rakewell’s open grave, the conductor’s connivance with Tom’s success in his final desperate card game, and best of all the chorus mechanics of the ill-fated ‘rocks to bread’ machine. It was atmospherically lit as well.”
Vladimir Jurowski in rehearsal with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and London Voices at Royal Festival Hall with assistant conductor, Tim Murray doing a turn as Sellem.
Toby Spence (Tom Rakewell) and Matthew Rose (Nick Shadow) rehearsing the Graveyard scene from Stravinksy's A Rake's Progress at Royal Festival Hall. Lighting by Malcolm Rippeth.
Vladimir Jurowski in rehearsal with Mathew Rose (Nick Shadow), Toby Spence (Tom Rakewell) and Sophia Burgos (Anne), with assistant conductor, Tim Murray, and repetiteur, Helen Collyer.
Sophie Burgoss (Anne Trulove) in rehearsals with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Henry Wood Hall.