Grange Park Opera will stage the world premiere production of Krishna by John Tavener in a run of four performances this June and July.
Tavener described Krishna as a mystic pantomime. It mixes dance, ritualised tableaux and an ethereal sound world that includes eight flutes forming a halo around the God.
Krishna is written for a large chorus and a full orchestra which includes eight flutes. The dance-driven pantomime—told through a Sanskrit libretto with English narration—draws on the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavata Purana, and other Hindu mystical poems to trace the life of Krishna in fifteen vignettes, following him from birth, through boyhood, adolescence, manhood, his union with the goddess Radha, and his ascension to paradise.
This new co-production will be directed by Sir David Pountney, with choreography by the celebrated Shobana Jeyasingh CBE and sets and costumes by award-winning designer Rachana Jadhav.
Performances
Thursday 4 June
Saturday 13 June
Sunday 21 June
Thursday 2 July
All performances start at 17:00
Cast & Creatives
CELESTIAL NARRATOR, Ross Ramgobin
BHUMI as a weeping cow, Sara Fulgoni
YASHODI, Krishna’s mother, Sara Fulgoni
KRISHNA as a child, Rosa Sparks
KRISHNA as an adolescent, Eliran Kadussi
KRISHNA as a young man, Elgan Llŷr Thomas
KRISHNA as a man, Brett Polegato
RADHA, Krishna’s childhood sweetheart, Julia Sitkovestsky
RADHA as a child, Jennifer Statham
RUKMINI, Krishna’s wife, Nazan Firket
ONSTAGE DRUMMER, Nao Masuda
CONDUCTOR, Mark Shanahan
DIRECTOR, Sir David Poutney
DESIGNER, Rachana Jadhav
CHOREOGRAPHER, Shobana Jeyasingh
LIGHTING DESIGNER, Tim Mitchell
SYNOPSIS
Prologue A weeping cow cries for help. Demon kings torment the land. God comes to earth as Krishna.
Scene 1 As the boy Krishna appears, flowers rain down, the moon and stars shine with joy, demons flee. A sorceress, tries to poison the child Krishna, but he sucks out the poison and sends her soul to Paradise.
Scene 2 Krishna eats mud and his mother scolds him. She looks in his mouth and sees all of heaven and the universe.
Scene 3 Krishna and Radha meet as children and fall in love.
Scene 4 Gopi milkmaids are bathing; the adolescent Krishna steals their clothes.
Scene 5 Krishna dances with Radha, then with the cow-girls. They fight over him.
Scene 6 Krishna vanishes. The women are desolate.
Scene 7 Radha unites her soul to God.
Interval
Scene 8 Entr’acte. Krishna ventures through cosmic evil.
Scene 9 Krishna subdues the serpent.
Scene 10 Krishna abducts Rukmini.
Scene 11 Radha and Rukmini meet. United in their love of Krishna, their souls become one; their bodies melt into the single-being Krishna.
Scene 12 Krishna bids farewell to the world. Those who think of Him will never die.
Scene 13 Krishna returns to Paradise. His devotees jump onto the funeral pyre to gain Paradise.
Epilogue Krishna sings from Paradise: when evil prevails and truth declines, He will return to the world.