The Elixir of Love
Donizetti
Directed by Jonathan Miller

Opens 15 September (9 Performances)

Jonathan Miller’s critically acclaimed and highly popular The Elixir of Love returns to ENO for its first revival

Legendary director Jonathan Miller and set designer Isabella Bywater bring their celebrated production of one of the most popular operatic romantic comedies of all time, Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love back to ENO, following its successful debut in 2010. British conductor Rory Macdonald leads a fantastic cast with Sarah Tynan as Adina and Andrew Shore as Dulcamara. 

Jonathan Miller’s career has covered a broad spectrum ranging from author to opera, television and film director. Since his ENO debut in 1978 with The Marriage of Figaro, Miller has maintained a close relationship with the company and has produced a number of critically acclaimed and hugely popular productions including The Mikado, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last season and the hugely popular Rigoletto set in mafia-run 1950s New York.

Together, Jonathan Miller and set designer Isabella Bywater, a long-time collaborator of Miller’s, relocate Donizetti’s tale of a young man’s quest to cure his broken heart from nineteenth-century rural Italy to a roadside dinner in the American mid-west of the twentieth-century. Lighting designer Hans Åke-Sjöquist also returns to the creative team.

Rory Macdonald, widely regarded as one of the most dynamic and talented British conductors of his generation, conducts, following his company debut in 2008 with the revival of Jonathan Miller’s classic staging of The Barber of Seville.

Sarah Tynan, a graduate of the ENO Young Singers Programme, returns to sing the role which won her much acclaim in 2010, of Adina, the beautiful diner proprietor, who torments the car mechanic Nemorino before finally submitting to his love. Ben Johnson, who made his opera debut with the Opéra de Lyon and sang a critically acclaimed Novice in Billy Budd at Glyndebourne, plays his first major role at ENO as Nemorino. ENO Young Singer Benedict Nelson, who was named Best Newcomer of 2009 by The Daily Telegraph, sings the role of Belcore.

Andrew Shore returns, for the first six performances, to sing the role of Dulcamara, (with the last three performance sung by William Allenby) the itinerant medicine man who sells his famed ‘elixir’ to Nemorino, which earned him an Olivier nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera in 2010. Renowned as one of the finest singers currently working on the lyric stage, he has also appeared in the ENO productions of Punch and Judy, Der Rosenkavalier and The Makropulous Case, among others. This will be the first of three big roles Andrew will be performing at ENO this season. Completing the cast is Ella Kirkpatrick as Giannetta.

The Elixir of Love opens at the London Coliseum on 15 September 2011 for 9 performances – 15, 23, 28 September & 1, 4, 6, October at 7.30pm and
25 September & 8 October at 3pm.

Pre-performance talk, Saturday 17 September, 4.45-5.30pm, £5

London Coliseum tour pre-performance, Saturday 17 September and Saturday 1 October; tours start at 2.30pm, £10 per person

Scenery and Costumes provided by New York City Opera and originally created for Royal Swedish Opera

A short film of the ENO production of Elixir of Love is here: http://youtu.be/enGzyBe7pfQ and can be downloaded by contacting the press office.

Notes to Editors:
ENO is creating the future of opera by:
• Staging contemporary highly theatrical work which is world class
• Working with creative talent from across the arts
• Reaching new audiences
• Developing and supporting British talent

For further press information please contact:
Liz Barrett
Head of Press
02078459261

ebarrett@eno.org