(2hrs45mins) TX Monday 24^th June 8pm Sky Arts 2 HD

Sky Arts commences celebrations of Benjamin Britten’s centenary year with the live television premiere of the revival of Deborah Warner’s acclaimed production of Death in Venice. Filmed at The Coliseum, London, the English National Opera production will be conducted by Edward Gardner and broadcast live on Monday 24^th June 8pm, Sky Arts 2 HD.

The live broadcast, produced and filmed by Leopard Films for Sky Arts, continues the ambitions of the ENO and Sky to develop new audiences for the arts. It has been over two decades since the last televised recording of Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice. 

The coveted work is Britten’s last opera and a tribute to Thomas Mann’s short novella of the same name. It revisits a subject that endlessly fascinated the composer through his work: the corruption of youth and innocence. The opera is a story of the impossible passion of a troubled writer and a fellow hotel guest set against the story of a cholera outbreak. Haunting and theatrical, Warner’s staging was praised as a ‘ravishingly beautiful’ production at its 2007 premiere. A new cast for this revival includes John Graham-Hall as Aschenbach as well as ENO regular Andrew Shore. Originally created with co-producing partner La Monnaie, Brussels, and following critically-acclaimed performances at La Scala Milan, Death in Venice reaffirms ENO position as the operatic home of Benjamin Britten.

James Hunt, Channel Director, Sky Arts says “Sky Arts working in tandem with the ENO, the leading producer of Benjamin Britten’s work, means we can bring Deborah Warner’s revival of Death In Venice to a wider audience. This acclaimed and timely tribute to one of the UK’s greatest composers promises to be a world class production and filming it live will create a fantastic television event for Sky customers.”

John Berry, Artistic Director of English National Opera adds “Deborah Warner’s production of Death in Venice is one of the most beautifully evocative pieces of theatre I’ve had the privilege to work on at English National Opera. Combined with the power of ENO Music Director Edward Gardner and our superlative orchestra and chorus, this jewel of a production gives us another perfect opportunity to work with the ever ambitious and innovative Sky Arts.”  

Fiona Morris, Head of Arts and Performance, Leopard Films, adds “Leopard Films is delighted to be producing another iconic stage production for Sky Arts and looking forward to bringing this extraordinary show to a wider television audience.”

The production of Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice is a collaboration between Sky Arts and Leopard Films, and follows the success of previous collaborations between Sky and Leopard Films, including one which saw Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake broadcast for the first time in 3D on Sky Arts and Sky 3D.

Death in Venice Live marks a further development for Sky Arts which champions innovative and original art programming, underlining Sky’s promise to deliver high-quality, exclusive content to customers, supported by a commitment to increase investment in home-grown programming to £600 million by 2014.

 “Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice will broadcast live on Monday 24^th June 8pm Sky Arts 2 HD”

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

Dominic Collett Sky Arts Publicist, Sky Press Office

T: 0207 032 4892

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NOTES TO EDITOR

Notes to Editors:

About Leopard Films:

Leopard Films is one the UK’s leading production companies, producing a diverse range of high quality content across factual, factual entertainment, comedy, arts and children’s genres, with recent highlights including The War on Britain’s Roads (BBC One), Rita Simons: My Daughter Deafness and Me (BBC One), Swan Lake 3D (Sky Arts), Tourettes: Let Me Entertain You (BBC Three),  Matthew Bourne’s Christmas (Channel 4) and Trade Your Way to the USA (CBBC).  Leopard Films is part of Argonon, the super-indie production group, formed by Leopard Films CEO James Burstall in 2011. Leopard Films, Leopardrama, Leopard Films USA and Remedy Productions were the first companies to join the new group, which was formed to create a world class centre of excellence for all genres of programming, both in the UK and international markets, and across broadcast and digital platforms. Transparent Television, the fast growing indie with a reputation for high quality, hard-hitting and popular factual content including My Daughter Amy (Channel 4) Botched Up Bodies and Extraordinary People: The Baby with a New Face, Channel 5 (Channel 5), joined the group in 2013.

About English National Opera

English National Opera is one of the world’s most innovative and accessible opera companies with an international reputation for distinctive, contemporary and highly theatrical productions. Collaborating with creative talent from across the arts, ENO stages more new productions and contemporary opera than any other UK opera company.  ENO has a world class reputation for distinctive and highly theatrical productions which has resulted in many high profile artistic partnerships with opera houses and festivals around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York and Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich. ENO is renowned for bringing new audiences to opera through English language performances which are affordable and accessible to everyone.

Original production co-produced with La Monnaie.

The Britten-Pears Foundation is supporting ENO’s programme of Britten operas leading up to the centenary of his birth. 

Original production and revival supported by Tom and Deirdre Lynch and the English Opera Group.

Cast List:

Gustav von Aschenbach                                John Graham-Hall

Baritone Roles                                                  Andrew Shore

Voice of Apollo                                                Tim Mead

Tadzio (Dancer)                                               Sam Zalidvar

Production Credits:

Conductor                                                         Edward Gardner

Director                                                              Deborah Warner

Assistant Director                                           Anneleen Jacobs

Set Designer                                                      Tom Pye

Costume Designer                                            Chloe Obolensky

Lighting Designer                                              Jean Kalman

Choreographer                                                  Kim Brandstrup

Staff Director                                                     James Hurley

Chorus Master                                                   Paul Brough

About Sky Arts

Sky Arts offers an eclectic mix of the best music, arts, biographies, chat shows, film, drama and comedy. Sky is the only broadcaster in the UK and Ireland with channels dedicated solely to the arts, with 48 hours of the best arts content from around the world across Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 2 daily. Sky Arts now reaches more than 6 million viewers every month.

Recent highlights include Playhouse Presents… a series of one-off comedies and dramas starring renowned talent including Jon Hamm, Daniel Radcliffe, Kylie Minogue, Anna Friel, Idriss Elba and Matt Smith. The channel was also responsible for resurrecting the much-loved South Bank Show and The South Bank Show Awards. Sky Arts also encourages new formats and methods for accessing the arts, working with the ENO and National Gallery to beam the world’s first live opera and first live opening night of an exhibition in 3D to cinemas across the UK and Ireland.

Sky Arts also seeks to connect with culture on the ground; creating and collaborating with the best of the arts in the UK and Ireland to bring new experiences to life. Sky Arts has collaborated with a number of arts organisations including the English National Ballet and has supported the Hay Festival as broadcast partner since 2006. The Sky Arts Ignition Series launched in in 2011 to invest in the arts landscape of the UK. The Series will seek to collaborate with six arts organisations over the next three years in the creation of brand new works; Sky Arts Ignition Series: Futures Fund will support five young artists with a bursary of £30,000 each, enabling Sky Arts to back the creation of new works of art as well as nurture emerging talent.

Follow us on twitter @skyarts. See sky.com/arts

About Sky

Sky is the UK and Ireland’s leading home entertainment and communications company. Around 40% of all homes have a direct relationship with Sky through its range of TV, broadband and home telephony services.

Sky is the UK’s biggest investor in television content, investing more than £2.3 billion a year in channels such as Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News.   Around two-thirds of Sky’s content spend is invested in the UK and Sky is the fastest-growing source of investment in original British programmes. More than 30 million people watch Sky content each week. Alongside its commitment to offering customers a greater choice of high-quality content, Sky is a leading innovator. Customers enjoy total control and flexibility over their favourite TV through Sky+, watch TV on the move through Sky Go, and enjoy the best quality TV experience at home through High Definition and 3D.

Sky distributes its content broadly over several platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, mobile and WiFi.  NOW TV, Sky’s second consumer brand, builds on the company’s leadership in internet TV. Sky is also the UK's fastest-growing home communications company and favourite ‘triple-play’ provider of TV, broadband and home phone.Sky believes in making a wider contribution to the communities in which it operates by taking positive action on the environment, supporting grassroots sport, opening up the arts to more people and raising the aspiration of young people in schools. Sky employs 23,500 people, has annual revenues of £6.8 billion and is estimated to support a £5.4 billion contribution to UK GDP. Sky is listed on the London Stock Exchange (BSY).