This unconventional work will kick off the first season to be fully programmed by Sešn Doran, the ENO's artistic director and chief executive since 2003. He intends the work, he told The Guardian, to make a bold statement about his intentions for the company.
Doran, who came to the ENO from the Perth International Arts Festival, has committed himself to producing two premieres every season. The second work in the 2005-06 season will be a work about Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi, commissioned by the hip hop collective Asian Dub Foundation.