Einstein on the Beach at Barbican

Head to a rare performance of Einstein on the Beach at Barbican as the critically acclaimed, five hour opera appears as part of the arts centre's London 2012 Festival programme.

Operatic masterpiece
Widely regarded as one of the great operatic works of the 20th century, Einstein on the Beach throws aside the normal conventions of opera and embraces a non-narrative form, which is structured into four interconnected acts. The creation of director Robert Wilson and composer Philip Glass, the opera was first performed by at the Metropolitan Opera in 1976, and the Einstein on the Beach at Barbican production is the first for twenty years.

Music and dance
Instead of the traditional narrative structure of the conventional opera, the Einstein on the Beach at Barbican production uses a series of recurring images as its storytelling device, shown in conjunction with abstract dance sequences designed by American choreographer Lucinda Childs. The whole performance takes place over five hours, and although there is no intermission, you can enter and exit the auditorium as you please.

Contemporary work
Rather than using the instruments of a traditional orchestra for the opera's arrangement, composer Philip Glass designed the work with synthesisers, woodwind instruments and the voices of the Philip Glass Ensemble in mind. The Einstein on the Beach at Barbican production is just one of the events taking place as part of the Cultural Olympiad which accompanies the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Cultural Olympiad London Festival

Einstein on the Beach at Barbican Theatre runs from Friday 4th May - Sunday 13th May 2011. Tickets cost £35.00 - £125.00. For more information and to buy tickets, call the Barbican box office on 020 7638 8891.

Image courtesy of Lucie Jansch

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Edvard Munch Exhibition London

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