Nico Muhly – Marnie at ENO
Monday 18 November at 7.30pm, English National Opera, London Coliseum, St Martin’s Lane
(also 26 November, 6.30pm; 28 November, 1 December, 7.30pm; 3 December)
A world premiere opera from composer Nico Muhly, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, with a libretto by Nicholas Wright, Marnie is based on the novel by Winston Graham, by special arrangement with Universal Pictures. It examines the cost of freedom, the limitations of forgiveness and the impossibility of escaping the past, in music that is direct and powerful.
A young woman makes her way through life by embezzling from her employers, before she moves on and changes her identity. When her current boss Mark Rutland catches her red-handed, he blackmails her into a loveless marriage. Marnie is left with no choice but to confront the hidden trauma from her past.