Dutch National Opera

The monster in the maze

Jonathan Dove (1959)

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Dates

June 2020

Location

Dutch National Opera, Great hall

Running time

1:00

Tickets

n.a.

Made by and for all ages

In the kingdom of Minos, there lives a fearsome creature: half man, half bull. The king keeps it locked deep inside a maze, feeding it the flesh of his enemies. Now, the king has ordered the city of Athens to sacrifice its youth – its future! – in order to feed the monster of Minos. The young hero Theseus believes that he can defeat the monster, but will he be able to keep his courage in the heart of the maze?

Voor en door jong en oud

Dutch version

The Monster in the Maze is a ‘community opera’ inspired by the Greek myth of the Minotaur. Previously mounted in Germany, France and Britain, Dutch National Opera presents a Dutch version of the large-scale community project in this season.

All ages on stage

The Monster in the Maze casts children, teenagers and adults to sing as well as act in the story of the child-eating monster, supported by three professional singers and an actor. Instrumentation is supplied by Dutch National Opera's regular partner, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, joined in the pit by young musicians of the Almeers Jeugdorkest.

Jonathan Dove

Jonathan Dove’s music has filled opera houses with delighted audiences of all ages on five continents. Few, if any, contemporary composers have so successfully or consistently explored the potential of opera to communicate, to create wonder and to enrich people’s lives. As well as three community operas for Glyndebourne, he has written Work in Progress to celebrate the completion of The Sage, Gateshead in 2005, three pieces for the London Borough of Hackney, and the award-winning cantata On Spital Fields (2005) for the Spitalfields Festival, in east London, of which he was artistic director from 2001 to 2006.