The University of Michigan’s University Opera Theatre will be presenting a production of “The Rake’s Progress,”  featuring music by Igor Stravinsky, and libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman. There will be four performances at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre in Ann Arbor, spanning March 22-25. Please visit the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance events page here for more details.

Stravinsky’s 1951 opera, considered to be one of the most important operas of the twentieth century. Joseph Horowitz, of Boosey & Hawkes, describes the opera as follows:

“One inspiration for this “moral fable” in “Italian-Mozartian” style (“I will lace each aria into a tight corset”) was Hogarth’s series tracking the downfall of Tom Rakewell, who squanders his inheritance on women, gambling, and drink and dies in a madhouse. In Auden’s much admired libretto, Tom is equipped with a sporadic moral conscience, as well as a satanic alter ego: Nick Shadow. As in Oedipus Rex, man is here a victim of implacable forces that control and crush him. But Anne Trulove, steadfast in devotion, rescues Tom’s soul. The pervasive detachment of Stravinsky’s score doubles the pathos of Anne’s final lullaby.”

Take a look at this video of “Rake’s” auditions for interviews with singers, the conductor, and the director.