Akhnaten

Phelim McDermott’s Olivier Award-winning production of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten returns to the ENO, following sell-out runs at the London Coliseum. Akhnaten is a mesmerising work whose text draws on ancient hymns, prayers and inscriptions sung in their original Egyptian, Hebrew and Akkadian. The opera’s unique mood transports audiences to this ancient world through Glass’s music (conducted by the returning Karen Kamensek) that combines his characteristic minimalist voice with stylised movement and choreographed juggling to visualise the rhythms of his score. A mesmerising spectacle, Akhnaten tells the story of one of the world’s most influential figures – the Pharaoh Akhnaten, the first Pharaoh to switch from worshipping a pantheon of gods to just one: the Sun. Award-winning countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo returns to the title role, alongside Chrystal E. Williams as Nefertiti, Haegee Lee as Queen Tye, Keel Watson returning to the role of Aye and Zachary James returning to the role of Scribe. The true sun god returns to the London Coliseum – book your opera tickets now for Philip Glass’s Akhnaten.