Sunday 8 May 2011

The set of Andre Chenier taking shape

A brief trip to Bregenz this week. This will be my fourth summer at the Austrian Opera Festival set on Lake Constance and famous for its huge outdoor opera arena.

I will be working on the premiere in the indoor theatre of a new opera by Judith Weir called Achterbahn or Miss Fortune and the purpose of this trip was to see elements of the set in situ on the stage and make sure everything is working the way we want it to. The sculptural design by Tom Pye looks wonderful on the huge stage of the Festspielhaus and I'm looking forward to the project immensely.

Meanwhile outside on the lake, the giant set for this year's opera am see is taking shape. The set takes months to build and it is always exciting to see a new leviathan slowly rise out of the lake, there to remain for two years before slowly being dismantled.

A brief, but tantalising trip, then back to London for stage rehearsals of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the London Coliseum.