The Paris debut of George Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s Picture a day like this, the fourth stage work from their celebrated partnership, has been acclaimed by critics following its premiere on 25 October at the Opéra Comique, conducted by the composer.
The opera, which lasts just over an hour, is cast in seven scenes. It tells the story of a Woman who has lost her child: if, before nightfall, she meets one truly happy person and cuts a button from their sleeve, her child will live again. In this search she meets a pair of Lovers, a Composer and their Assistant, an Artisan, Collector, and the mysterious Zabelle. Listen to the world premiere recording of Picture a day like this here.
…a magnificent, essential show…Music and theatre seldom come together so perfectly…Under Benjamin’s direction the music is delicate, always elegant and in service of the drama…There is something extremely intimate happening in this opera…unique and accessible to all.
Radio France (Anna Sigalévitch) 29 October 2024
…a moving masterpiece…Benjamin’s vocal writing is constructed around both the voices and embraces the poetic inflections of the language…[the orchestral writing] is like a carpet embroidered with gemstones that supports the voices.
Radio France (Emmanuel Dupuy) 29 October 2024
The fluid, unfolding language sparkles with colours, in perfect harmony with the story…timbres are tied to the atmosphere of the narrative: the harp suggests the death of the child, the bells punctuate each stage of the fruitless quest…recorders add their sweetness to the sensual scene between the lovers…a captivated audience gave a standing ovation.
Ôlyrix (Véronique Boudier) 27 October 2024
The form and brevity of the fable are ideally matched to the rarefied, twilight music…There are few evenings where all the elements of a show are so extensively at the service of the composer's music: Picture a day like this…is one of them.
Opera Online (Laurent Vilarem) 25 October 2024
[the opera] fascinates with its rigorous dramatic forward movement. As always, text and music quiver in unison, rediscovering the fundamental ideals of the form…the luxurious score mixing harp, celesta, brass, woodwind and bells, captivates the audience from the outset, summoning a mysterious atmosphere that continues to grow…Benjamin and Crimp have written a new masterpiece.
Classique News (Jean-François Lattarico) 29 October 2024
Benjamin’s latest work continues its triumphant march…Twice before we have praised the remarkable economy of this lyrical work…Martin Crimp creates a complicity with its listener...Each scene occasions a perfect increase in tension, a formidable dramatic spring that grips the spectator…Benjamin follows the subtle outline of this millimetre-perfect text…an opera that is surely destined for revival.
Forumopera.com (Yannick Boussaert) 29 October 2024
The cast, the same as the world premiere production from the 2023 Aix-en-Provence Festival, comprised Marianne Crebassa (Woman), Anna Prohaska (Zabelle), Beate Mordal (Lover 1/Composer), Cameron Shahbazi (Lover 2/Composer’s Assistant) and John Brancy (Artisan/Collector).
Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma’s production appeared as part of the Festival d'Automne, who commissioned the first collaboration between Benjamin and Crimp Into the Little Hill in 2006 - also directed by Jeanneteau. In 2023 the Festival mounted a concert staging of Benjamin and Crimp’s Lessons in Love and Violence, and in 2013 played host to Katie Mitchell’s production of Written on Skin at the Opéra Comique.
Following its debut at Aix, Picture a day like this has appeared at the Linbury Theatre of the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, and, in September 2024, at the Opéra de Strasbourg. In spring it will be staged 2025 at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, conducted by Corinna Niemayer; in July 2025 Niemayer conducts the Austrian premiere of the work at the Tiroler Festspiele.