Kim Brandstrup
The Fall of the House of Usher
Production photos
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premiere
August 7, 2006 Bregenz Festspielhaus, Bregenz Festival
Further Performances
August 8, 13, 2006
Also released on DVD-Video Capriccio NTSC CAP93517
Creative team
Producer
Bregenz Festival
Music
Claude Debussy: Jeux, L’après-midi d’une faune , The Fall of the House of Usher (unfinished opera, completed by Robert Orledge)
Director
Phyllida Lloyd
Choreographer and co-director
Kim Brandstrup
Designs
Richard Hudson
Lighting
Adam Silverman
Conductor
Lawrence Foster
Orchestra
Vienna Symphony Orchestra
dancers
Leanne Benjamin (Lady Madeleine)
Steven McRae (Roderick Usher)
Gary Avis (The Doctor)
Johannes Stepanek (Roderick’s Friend)
The Fall of the House of Usher
Bregenz Festival
Bregenz Festspielhaus , August 7 2006
Review Extracts
“A unique and bewitching experiment…Lloyd and Brandstrup work seamlessly with a superb cast of singers and dancers”
Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph
“The eminently lyrical style of Brandstrup’s choreography blended perfectly with Debussy’s musical musings. A great performance.”
Horst Koegler, Opera Magazine
“The symbiosis between the dancers and the orchestral score was, quite simply, perfect; every nuance of the music was expressed in gesture and movement”
Opera Now
Programme Note
The Fall of the House of Usher, conceived and directed by Brandstrup and Lloyd, used music by Debussy, including the scores of Jeux and L’après-midi d’une faune , and his unfinished opera, The Fall of the House of Usher (here completed by Robert Orledge). The show explored the characters in Poe’s psychological ghost story and imagined the events leading to its grisly dénouement. Dancers and singers were closely integrated throughout.
The cast featured four dancers from The Royal Ballet including Leanne Benjamin, Steven McRae, Gary Avis and Johannes Stepanek – and singers Scott Hendricks, John Graham-Hall and Nicholas Cavallier. Lawrence Foster conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Design by Richard Hudson