English National Opera has released the first rehearsal photographs of Adriana Mater, Kaija Saariaho's opera of war and motherhood, ahead of the company's first staging of the work at the London Coliseum on 28 November.
English National Opera has opened the doors of its rehearsal room on Adriana Mater, with a set of photographs by Manuel Harlan taken as the company prepares its first ever staging of Kaija Saariaho's opera. The new production opens at the London Coliseum on 28 November and runs for seven performances, closing on 12 December 2026.
The work is the second half of a pairing that Annilese Miskimmon has built across the autumn: her new Tosca, which opened on 30 October, is the prequel, and Adriana Mater the sequel, the two linked by questions of art, war and what survives them. It is also the first production on which ENO's Artistic Director and its Music Director Designate, André de Ridder, have worked together, she directing and he conducting the Orchestra of ENO through a score that sets traditional orchestral writing against electronics. Anyone who wants the whole arc in one sitting can have it on Saturday 5 December, when Tosca plays the matinee and Adriana Mater the evening.
The libretto is by the Lebanese-French writer and former war correspondent Amin Maalouf, and ENO is performing it in a newly commissioned English translation by Aleksi Barrière, the composer's son. The story unfolds in a European country that is never named, during a civil war and in the years that follow it. Adriana's son Yonas grows up to face the violence written into his own family history, and in the final confrontation his mother asks him to choose mercy over killing, since only by ending the cycle of male violence can the family, and the country with it, start to recover.
The family connection runs into the pit as well. Aliisa Neige Barrière, Saariaho's daughter, is the production's Associate Conductor and takes over the baton on 5 and 10 December.
German mezzo-soprano Kristina Stanek sings the title role, with tenor Caspar Singh, last seen at ENO as Britten's Albert Herring, as Yonas. Baritone Leigh Melrose plays Tsargo, and soprano Lauren Fagan makes her company debut as Refka. Rosanna Vize designs the set and Evie Gurney the costumes, with lighting by Lee Curran and movement direction by Imogen Knight. We covered the casting when it was announced in October, and our guide to everything you need to know about Adriana Mater has the fuller background.
As across ENO's season, under-21s can sit anywhere in the house for free, 21 to 35-year-olds qualify for reduced prices, and tickets for everyone else start at £25.
Adriana Mater is booking now at the London Coliseum from 28 November - 12 December 2026.
