Press release

The Lion's Face

The Opera Group collaborates with the Institute of Psychiatry on ‘The Lion’s Face’, a new opera about dementia.

A new opera about the poignancy of old age premieres on Thursday 20 May at the 2010 Brighton Festival. Developed with support from the Wellcome Trust, 'The Lion's Face'will tour the UK this summer as part of The Identity Project, a nine-month season of activity from the Trust exploring the theme of identity.

Produced by the award-winning company The Opera Group, 'The Lion's Face'features music composed by Elena Langer and poetry from Glyn Maxwell.

The work has been developed in partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, where the company received inspired guidance, encouragement and advice from Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, Simon Lovestone and his team.

Professor Lovestone said: "Working with the arts is a great way to discuss the challenges of Alzheimer's disease and other illnesses. But what really captured my imagination in this case was the opportunity to work with some artists who were interested in a genuine dialogue - reflecting back to us as clinicians and scientists aspects of the disease we might not have thought about otherwise."

"I think this use of poetry and music will help us to look at Alzheimer's disease in a different way, and will energise me and my colleagues in our battle with this devastating disease."

The story begins with a seemingly trivial incident: an elderly man forgets his way home. The piece follows him as he retreats into an inner world where communication gradually diminishes.

Composer Elena Langer and poet Glyn Maxwell use music and poetry to explore the isolated shreds and shards of language that precariously connect the patient, Mr D, to the world he knew. The opera compassionately charts the reactions of those that surround him: wife, daughter, carer, doctor.

Glyn Maxwell comments: "For a poet, the subject of dementia offers unique challenges as well as potential pitfalls. But writing responsibly - in its literal sense of responsively - verse can deal sympathetically and enlighteningly with this widespread condition."

An initial 20-minute version of the piece won the Audience Prize at the 2008 Zurich Teatro Minimo competition.

'The Lion's Face' is part of a nine-month UK-wide season of activity about identity initiated by the Wellcome Trust. The Identity Project launched in November 2009 with ‘Identity: Eight rooms, nine lives’ - a major temporary exhibition at Wellcome Collection in London. Throughout 2010 the project is travelling across the country with exhibitions, events and experiments encouraging debate and discussion about how well we will ever be able to know ourselves.

The full-length version of 'The Lion's Face' has been made possible with a large Arts Award from the Wellcome Trust. Further funding from Arts Council England, the Peter Moores Foundation and the Linbury Trust facilitated realisation of the opera.

The Opera Group is also working with the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London and other partners, including the Alzheimer's Society, to create a series of talks, workshops and events connected to the performances of the opera around the country.

'The Lion's Face' world premiere
Theatre Royal, Brighton Festival
Thu 20 May, 20.00

Tour details

Theatre Royal Brighton
Thu 20 May, 20.00
Fri 21 May, 20.00

Oxford Playhouse
Sun 23 May, 19.30

Northern Stage, Newcastle
Tue 25 May, 20.00
Wed 26 May, 14.00 and 20.00

Watford Palace Theatre
Fri 28 May, 19.45
Sat 29 May, 19.45

Parabola Theatre, Cheltenham Ladies' College
Cheltenham Festival of Music
Fri 16 July, 18.00

Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House, London
Tue 20 July, 19.45
Wed 21 July, 19.45
Wed 28 July, 19.45
Thu 29 July, 19.45

About Elena Langer, composer

Elena Langer was born in Moscow and is now based in London. After graduating from the Gnessin Music College where she majored in musicology and piano, she entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory to study composition. In 1999 Elena moved to London to complete her degrees, first at the Royal College of Music (MMus), and then at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2002 and 2003 she was a composer-in-residence at the Almeida Theatre, London.

Elena has written compositions in diverse genres, including opera and multimedia, orchestral, chamber and choral works, and has received commissions and performances from international ensembles, festivals and organisations, including The Royal Opera House's ROH2, Zurich Opera (Switzerland), and Carnegie Hall. Some of her works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC World Service, Radio Echo of Moscow and Dutch Radio.

About Glyn Maxwell, poet

Glyn Maxwell was born in 1962 in Welwyn Garden City, England. He read English at the University of Oxford and won a scholarship to Boston University where he studied the poetry and drama courses taught by Derek Walcott. He moved to the USA in 1996, teaching first at Amherst College, Massachusetts, then at Columbia University and The New School in New York City. In 1997 he was awarded the E M Forster Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was appointed Poetry Editor at the 'New Republic' in 2001, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

His first book of poetry, 'Tale of the Mayor's Son', was published in 1990. 'Out of the Rain' (1992) won a Somerset Maugham Award, and 'Rest for the Wicked' (1995) was shortlisted for both the Whitbread Poetry Award and the T S Eliot Prize. 'The Breakage' (1998) was shortlisted for both the T S Eliot and the Forward Poetry (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) Prizes.

He has written a number of plays, several of which have been performed professionally, including 'Broken Journey' (which was a 'Time Out' Critics' Choice), 'The Lifeblood', 'Anyroad' and 'The Only Girl in the World'. His radio play, 'Childminders', was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2002. His recent theatre work includes 'The Lifeblood', a play about the last few days of Queen Mary's life, his verse drama one-person show, 'Best Man's Speech', and 'The Forever Waltz', which premiered in New York in 2005. He also writes opera libretti, including 'The Girl of Sand' for the Almeida Theatre, in collaboration with the composer Elena Langer, and a libretto based on Euripides' 'The Birds', composed by Ed Hughes for The Opera Group, performed at the City of London Festival 2005.

About Professor Simon Lovestone

Simon Lovestone is Professor of Old Age Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), King's College London (KCL) and Director of the National Institute for Health Research's Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and IoP KCL. His research interests concentrate on understanding the molecular and cellular events that take place in the brain and especially the role of tau and intracellular signalling in Alzheimer's disease, together with the genetics and proteomics of late-onset Alzheimer's. His research team are also looking for biomarkers of this and other neuropsychiatric diseases. In addition to heading a multidisciplinary old age psychiatry clinical team he has clinical interests in the dementias and in genetic counselling.

About the Identity Project

The Identity Project is a nine-month season of activity from the Wellcome Trust, including a major exhibition and diverse events presented in Wellcome Collection, plus exhibitions, live events and films at other venues across the UK.

About the Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is a global charity dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. The Trust's breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. It is independent of both political and commercial interests.