Events

Original image by Ian Winters (c) 2024

The year 2024 marks the 350th anniversary of English poet and staunch republican John Milton’s death.

The epic poem Paradise Lost was completed in 1667 by John Milton (1608-1674).

States of Innocence is a new opera after Paradise Lost by composer Ed Hughes and Peter Cant (theatre maker and writer).  The work has been specially conceived and developed for the Brighton Festival 2024. It premieres at the Corn Exchange, Brighton Dome, in the Brighton Festival on Sunday 19 May 2024 in the Corn Exchange in a performance with celebrated opera bass soloist Sir John Tomlinson as Milton, and a cast of acclaimed singers from the opera world.

Original projection designs by video artist Ian Winters are being specially commissioned for the first performance.

For States of Innocence, librettist Peter Cant drew on Milton's poem, and The Woman’s Bible (1895) by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, which radically challenged the orthodoxy that woman should be subservient to man. Stanton's words add a new dynamic and tension to the story, and a modern character, Eve's Image, who questions its assumptions.

The creative team is led by University of Sussex faculty members and associates.

Music by Ed Hughes (Prof of Composition at University of Sussex)

Stage direction by Tim Hopkins (Senior Research Fellow in Centre for Opera and Music Theatre at University of Sussex)

Projection designs by Ian Winters (Artist in Residence, Sussex Humanities Lab)

Booking link

https://brightonfestival.org/whats-on/Xw8-states-of-innocence/

Brief outline of story/synopsis

John Milton can no longer see. He is composing his poem ‘Paradise Lost’, dictating it to his assistant, wife, daughters and readers. At first they are beguiled by the poem’s beauty, breadth and command. But as they give voice to his characters they begin to rebel against their fates. As the author attempts to ‘justify the ways of God to men’ his characters defend what it means to be human, powerful yet fallible and vulnerable to love and loss.

Sound, images and video assets

https://edhughescomposer.com/states

Back to event list

By: Edward Hughes
Last updated: Wednesday, 1 May 2024