Jonathan Dove

Jonathan Dove

(born London 15 July 1959)

Primarily an opera composer, Dove’s prolific output of operas are known for their atypical subject matters, looking beyond classically interpreted literature to contemporary events, or new takes on myth.

Dove's Life

Born in 1959 to unmusical parents, Dove quickly took to playing piano, organ and viola.

His first success came with his breakthrough opera Flight, staged in 1998 at Glyndebourne. Set against a backdrop of an airport, a comedic look into the drama of everyday events was well received and revived across the world.

2015 brought the world premiere of The Day After, commissioned and produced by Holland Opera with a libretto by April de Angelis, a post-Apocalyptic setting of the myth of Phaeton written specifically to be performed outside.

Notable Operas

  • Flight, 1998
  • Tobias and the Angel, (1999)
  • When She Died… (Death of a Princess), (2002)
  • Man on the Moon, (2006)
  • The Enchanted Pig, (2006)