UTOPIA ORCHESTRA 2025

HENRY PURCELL (1659 – 1695)
”The Indian Queen”
(Concert Performance)

Semi-opera in a prologue and five acts Z 630 (1695)
Libretto after the play of the same name by John Dryden and Robert Howard
In a version by Peter Sellars (2013/2016)

21/02, Blauwe zaal, Antwerp, Belgium, 20:00
17/02, Philharmonie Berlin, (Grosser Saal), Berlin, Germany, 20:00
05/02, Saint-Eustache Church, Paris, France, Private concert, 20:00

In 2022, Currentzis fulfilled a dream when he founded a new orchestra, the »Utopia« orchestra. The members come together from various international orchestras for »Utopia« concerts on a project-related basis. This is also the case for the 2023 Salzburg Festival and a concert performance of Henry Purcell's semi-opera (a special form of English baroque opera in the 18th century)
»The Indian Queen«. Together with director Peter Sellars, Currentzis has created a version of this work, which is set in Central America and deals with fictional conflicts between the Aztecs and the Incas in a prologue and five acts. This version supplements the original score with songs, arias and sacred choral pieces by Purcell and places it in a new context. Using passages from Rosario Aguilar's novel "La niña blanca y los pájaros sin pies" ("The White Girl and the Birds Without Feet"), British-French actress Amira Casar narrates the story of the Spanish conquest of Central America from the perspective of three women.

Soloists
Jeanine De Bique, Teculihuatzin / Doña Luisa
Dennis Orellana, Hunahpú
Andrey Nemzer, Ixbalanqué
Nicholas Newton, Mayan shaman
Amira Casar, speaker,
among others.

Utopia Orchestra & Choir
Teodor Currentzis — Conductor

On February 5th, 2025, he performed with Teodor Currentzis, the UTOPIA Orchestra and Choir, and soprano Jeanine De Bique in a private concert at the Église Saint-Eustache in Paris, featuring They Tell Us, from Henry Purcell’s The Indian Queen, realized by Teodor Currentzis.