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Performing Arts: Opera Philip Glass: Waiting for the Barbarians

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Philip Glass' latest opera finds inspiration in J.M. Coetzee's allegorical novel of the same title. The harrowing narrative of conflict between oppressors and the oppressed is set in an outpost town in which a military bureaucracy manufacturers a war through rumor-spreading, violence and torture. Instead of focusing on a particular moment in time, Glass' interpretation addresses the novel's broad social and political implications, as well as the unending struggle between good and evil in everyday life. His commanding dramatisation uses high-flying arpeggios and challenging vocal parts to embody the brutality of Coetzee's novel, and to (in his own words), "turn our attention toward the human dimension of history."

– Oliver Spall

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