Polish Premiere

Joseph K. ? contemporary to us. Wealthy, educated, achieved professional and social success. And still, something is bothering him. He looks at himself in the reality as if it was a mirror, and the reality hassles him. Mediocre relationships, mediocre people. In this mirror, he for himself also feels mediocre. And there is no way out from this situation. He feels trapped. He feels guilty?

The metaphor of human loneliness and weakness from the dark novel by Franz Kafka was well used in his chamber opera by the famous contemporary composer Philip Glass, an Oscar nominee a Golden Globe winner. The premiere of The Trial took place in Royal Opera House in London in 2014 in co-production with Music Theatre Wales. The libretto was written by a distinguished director and scriptwriter, an Oscar winner, Christopher Hampton. Typical for the music in The Trial is great tension. Philip Glass, thrifty as regards the means of music message, uses repetitions, rhythms increasing the sense of fear and absurd: ?I think of my chamber operas as if they were neutron bombs ? small but with huge fire power?.

After world premiere at Music Theatre Wales, Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, 2014:
"...a deeply atmospheric concept, one perfectly complemented by the score. Glass's relentless, chugging rhythms capture the sense of inevitability running through the narrative, while evoking the soullessness of the bureaucracy so forcefully critiqued in the novel. This composer has a way of insinuating without insisting; of allowing the tension to simmer without boiling over, that is remarkably Kafkaesque. We're left with the constant impression that something ghastly is lurking just out of sight. [...] it exceeded expectations. The verdict? Unmissable".
Hannah Nepil, The Financial Times