Les Enfants terribles

Les Enfants terribles is a danced chamber opera for four voices and three pianos (grand pianos or electronic), composed in 1996 by Philip Glass, to a French-language libretto by the composer, in collaboration with the American choreographer Susan Marshall, after Jean Cocteau's eponymous novel published in 1929 and Jean-Pierre Melville's 1950 film. Commissioned by the "Steps" dance festival organized by the in several Swiss cities, this is the last part of a trilogy in homage to the French poet after Orphée (1993) and La Belle et la Bête (1994). The world premiere of the work took place on 18 May 1996 in Zug conducted by Karen Kamensek. Performance history The work was performed in Albertslund, Denmark, on 28 and 29 May 1996 as part of when Copenhagen was the European Capital of Culture. It was subsequently performed at the on 17 October 1996, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music of New York on 20 November 1996 for the American premiere, at the Alexander Theatre of Helsinki for the Finnish premiere for seven days from 23 September 2005, with the Skaala Opera ensemble conducted by Sasha Mäkilä at the Oakland Opera House on 6 October 2006, at the for three days from 20 March 2007 for the French premiere, at the Staatstheater Nürnberg for the German premiere for five days from 29 April 2007, and at the Duško Radović Little Theatre of Belgrade (under the title Derišta), on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment, on 7 December 2009 under the direction of Srđan Marković for the Serbian premiere. The opera received its UK premiere on 20 August 2010 at the Arcola Theatre, directed by Andrea Ferran. It transferred to the Lilian Baylis Theatre. A second British production, choreographed be Javier de Frutos, with dancers from the Royal Ballet was staged at the Barbican Centre in 2017. Roles