The Metropolitan Opera: The Exterminating Angel
After the acclaimed Met premiere of Thomas Adès's "The Tempest" in 2012, the composer returned with another masterpiece, this time inspired by filmmaker Luis Buñuel's seminal surrealist classic "El Ángel Exterminador", during the 2017–18 season. As the opera opens, a group of elegant socialites gather for a lavish dinner party, but when it is time to leave for the night, no one is able to escape. Soon, their behavior becomes increasingly erratic and savage. The large ensemble cast tackles both the vocal and dramatic demands of Adès's opera with one riveting performance after another. Tom Cairns, who also penned the work's libretto, directs an engrossing and inventive production, using a towering wooden archway to trap the characters onstage. And Adès himself takes the podium to conduct the frenzied score, which features a host of unconventional instruments, including the eerie electronic ondes Martenot.
Cast
Joseph Kaiser
as Edmundo de Nobile
Amanda Echalaz
as Lucía de Nobile
Audrey Luna
as Leticia Maynar
Alice Coote
as Leonora Palma
Sally Matthews
as Silvia de Ávila
Iestyn Davies
as Francisco de Ávila
Christine Rice
as Blanca Delgado
Rodney Gilfry
as Alberto Roc
Sophie Bevan
as Beatriz
Frédéric Antoun
as Raúl Yebenes
