Suor Angelica is a heart-rending story of a young, unmarried mother separated from her child by her aristocratic family and confined to a convent. One of Puccini’s rawest creations, the opera takes us on an extraordinary emotional journey.

Overview

When she is forced by her family to join a convent, Angelica’s life is reduced to the confines of its walled garden and she is tormented by the love and life she was robbed of. Doubt consumes her as she questions her faith and tries to forgive herself and her family. A moment of crisis comes when she is visited by her aunt carrying devastating news of her son.

Score

In Puccini’s profoundly moving score, the opera captures the searching, questioning nature of grief and the possibility or impossibility of forgiveness. Indeed the aria ‘Senza mamma’ (‘Sweetest love, you died without your mother’), is one of the most poignant Puccini ever wrote.

Singers & Creatives

The leading role, Sister Angelica, is sung by Olivier Award-nominated soprano, Sinead Campbell-Wallace. Christine Rice, one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, sings the role of Angelica’s main tormentor, the Princess, her aunt. Former Harewood artists, Alexandra Oomens and Madeleine Shaw, sing Sister Genovieffa and The Abbess respectively.

The production, set in 1960s Ireland, within a Magdalene Laundries institution, is directed by ENO’s Artistic Director, Annilese Miskimmon, and is conducted by Corinna Niemeyer, Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestre de Chambre du Luxembourg, who is making her ENO debut. English translation is by Amanda Holden.

Giacomo Puccini: Suor Angelica – Opera in 1 act on a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano © Casa Ricordi Milano (Universal Music Publishing Group, Classics & Screen)
“By arrangement with G. Ricordi & Co. (London) Ltd.”