On 5 June Nuno Coelho conducted the world premiere of Francisco Coll’s Lilith with Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in a newly-expanded three-movement version of the 2022 work. The 2025 version of Lilith was commissioned by Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, where Coll is currently Artistic Partner as composer and conductor, and Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Lilith is approximately 23 minutes in length. It is named for Adam’s first wife, whose story is multifaceted and contradictory. Coll’s work, conceived as a “ballet without choreography”, adds another layer to these narratives. The first movement – ‘Contrapunto Erótico’ – is an expressive adagio, evoking desire and fear at the same time. Lilith dwells in the ruins - from these vestiges, Renaissance-inspired polyphony emerges. The second movement is divided into two parts: ‘Three Angels’ describes a torturous labyrinth in which a battalion of three seraphim seek out the fugitive Lilith; ‘Vals de la huida’ – ‘Waltz of the Escape’ - is tragic and grotesque, bordering on hysterical. The third movement is also in two parts.
In Hebrew, Lilith (Leilit) also means ‘nocturnal’; ‘Nocturna’ explores this aspect of her nature. In ‘Euphoria’ Lilith arrives in the modern city and joins in a wild orgy, as the masses are swept up by her seductive force. The psychological and physical architecture of the modern urban environment are frequent sources of inspiration to Coll, who has created soundscapes drawing on the dried-out riverbed Turia in Valencia, Lorca’s imagination of New York City (Ciudad sin Sueño), and the hypermodern World-City as conceived by philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky (Elysian).
Lilith will receive its North American premiere in March 2026 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Gustavo Gimeno, a longstanding champion of Coll’s music. An early form of the work’s final movement, ‘Nocturna – Euphoria’, was composed in 2019 under the title Lilith, commissioned by Orquesta de València and premiered by the composer in 2022 as part of his residency with the ensemble.