Orango is an unfinished satirical opera by Shostakovich, sketched while he was writing Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. He and his librettists conceived ‘a political lampoon against the bourgeois press’ involving a human-ape hybrid (!), but when the librettists failed to deliver their script in time for the planned 15th anniversary of the Revolution, the whole thing was dropped. Of the projected Prologue and three acts, only the 40-minute Prologue was completed in piano vocal score, which was discovered as recently as 2004 in a Moscow archive and subsequently orchestrated by the British composer Gerard McBurney. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted the world première with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in December 2011.
Sung in Russian with English surtitles; the performance of Orango will be semi-staged
Part of Southbank Centre's The Rest Is Noise, inspired by Alex Ross' book "The Rest is Noise"
This concert is supported by the Meyer Foundation
More concerts at Royal Festival Hall
Sir Andrew Davis conducts in London
May 22 2013, 19:30 - Royal Festival Hall
Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of Wagner's birth, Sir Andrew Davis conducts excerpts from Wagner's Tannhäuser and Die Walküre
Salonen conducts in London
May 30 2013, 19:30 - Royal Festival Hall
Esa-Pekka conducts The Rite of Spring in its centenary performance alongside Debussy's Prelude à l'après-midi d'un faune and Varèse's Amériques
Bookmark
Send to a friend
Orango Podcast
An extended documentary on Shostakovich's lost opera. European première, 16 May in London.
Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 Podcast
An interview with Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Find out about Esa-Pekka Salonen, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor.
London 2012/13 season
Explore our 2012/13 season at Southbank Centre
Festive Overture & Symphony No. 5
Buy on CD or download Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 and Festive Overture.
