“The Exterminating Angel” has its Met premiere this season, conducted by the composer, Thomas Adès. The Met co-commissioned the opera together with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Royal Danish Theatre. The world premiere took place in July 2016 at the Salzburger Festspiele and won the “Premiere of the year” Award of the International Opera Awards. Many of the performers at the Met have already been performing the roles in London during April and May 2017.

Tom Cairns and Thomas Adès used the screenplay by Luis Buñuel and Luis Alcoriza for the acclaimed 1962 Buñuel film of the same name, which is considered a masterpiece of surrealist cinema. It tells the story of a group of people, who have been invited to a dinner party which, as they find out soon, they can not leave. The plot is full of satire and allegories ridiculing human nature, which hides its savage instincts and secrets, even when the characters are representatives of the sophisticated high society.

“The Exterminating Angel” is the third opera by the 46 years old Brit Thomas Adès, written after “Powder Her Face” (1995) and “The Tempest” (2004), which are considered as contemporary classics. “It’s a territory that I like very much, because it looks as though the people are in a room, but it’s not really about the room; they’re actually trapped in their own heads” says the composer, winner of “Ernst von Siemens”, “Brit” and “Grammy” awards.

…inventive and audacious … a major event.

 The New York Times

On the photo: Scene from “The Exterminating Angel”