Tales of Hoffman revived by Covent Garden in Winter 2008 season
November 2008

The famous 1980 Royal Opera House production of Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman, directed by John Schlesinger, with costumes by Maria and sets by Bill Dudley, will be revived again, twenty-eight years after its first performance. This much loved staging, thought by many to be the finest Hoffman of modern times, will have a star cast led by Rolando Villazon as Hoffman, with Christine Rice as Giulietta., Antonio Pappano  conducts. Maria’s stunning costume designs for this production are among her most celebrated.

Performance dates are: November: 25th and 28th, December 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th 2008
The Royal Opera House  website has more details:
http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=7062

Cunning Little Vixen in Tel Aviv
February 2009

This classic production, designed by Maria and directed by David Pountney is being staged by Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv in early 2009
Performance dates are:
February 2009 - 25th(Premiere), 26/02, 27/02, 28/02
March - 2/03, 3/03, 4/03, 6/03

The Israeli Opera website has more information:
http://www.israel-opera.co.il/Eng/?CategoryID=295

House of the Dead in Palermo
October 2008

The classic Welsh National Opera production of Janacek’s House of the Dead, directed by David Pountney and designed by Maria was staged in the magnificent Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Sicily in October 2008.

The Teatro Massimo website has more information:
/www.teatromassimo.it/stagione/op08DaUnaCasaDiMorti_en.html

Don Giovanni at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
September 2008

Don Giovanni directed by Francesca Zambello and designed by Maria was performed at Covent Garden in Autumn 2008.
The opera ran from September 8th to October 2nd.

The Royal Opera House website has more information:
www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=6507

The Little Prince
May 2008

Rachel Portman's opera The Little Prince, designed by Maria, opened in San Francisco on May 2nd 2008, and ran until May 11th. The San Francisco Opera website has more information:
www.sfopera.com/opera.asp?o=261

A flyer for the San Francisco Little Prince

The production attracted enthusiastic reviews:
“…magical production, with colorful sets and costumes by the late Maria Bjornson...conjures up a fairy-tale world of dreams and caricatures.” San Francisco Chronicle, 5 may 2008
For more review quotes please click here (PDF, 0.1MB)

The author of The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, was featured in an article in the Daily Mail on March 17th 2008:
Messerchmitt pilot Horst Rippert, 88, said he would have held his fire if he had known the man flying the Lightning fighter was renowned French novelist Antoine de Saint-Exupery
(PDF, 0.8MB)

La Scala Macbeth revival
April 2008

Graham Vick’s 1997 La Scala production of Verdi’s Macbeth, designed by Maria Bjornson, was revived by the great Milan opera house for a short season this Spring.

Maria Productions at the Royal Opera House
Summer 2007

Two productions designed by Maria Bjornson were revived at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London in the summer of 2007:

Katya Kabanova by Janacek, directed by Trevor Nunn
Janice Watson sang the role of Katya. The cast also included: Kurt Streit, Toby Spence and Felicity Palmer.
The great Janecek musician Sir Charles Mackerras conducted.

Don Giovanni by Mozart, directed by Francesca Zambello
The cast included Erwin Schrott and Anna Netrebko. Ivor Bolton and David Syrus were the two conductors involved.

Adam Pollock gave a key talk at the PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL, the big four-yearly theatre design event, on June 24th 2007 about the life and work of Maria, aided by Redcase Ltd and the Maria Bjornson Archive. Archivist Michael Lee prepared a Power Point presentation to go with the talk showing many of Maria's designs, film clips and stills. There was much interest and the response has led to discussions towards mounting an exhibition in Milan as well as the talk being given at various design colleges.

The Little Prince
May 2007

The Little Prince opened for five perfomances in May 2007 at the Lithuanian National Opera & Ballet Theatre in Vilnius. Olivia and Robert Temple attended the first night and were happy to sponsor the production through Redcase Ltd. Most of the fabrics were bought in London from the supplier used by Maria Bjornson and the costumes were made up in Lithuania. The set model was sent from the archive studio to the theatre in Vilnius and Redcase was also able to assist in other ways, primarily with financial contributions.