Reviews are in for the German debut of George Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s Picture a day like this at Oper Köln. The opera, which lasts just over an hour, appeared in the world premiere production from Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma, conducted by Christian Karlsen.
…a wonderful, fairytale-like short opera…this hour-long sequence reveals more about human happiness and suffering than many a monumental work…Benjamin has composed music in which every note matters.
Das Opernmagazin (Ursula Hartlapp-Lindemeyer) 19 May 2026
[Benjamin and Crimp] once again prove themselves a dream team…Crimp's poetic idiom evokes magic and mystery precisely through the brevity of its expression… Benjamin devises a chamber-scale, lucid score…Entirely rooted in Crimp's poetic idiom, Benjamin explores the finest nuances of the text…Musically, the composer…could not have wished for a more excellent endorsement…Christian Karlsen coaxes a wealth of colours from the Gürzenich Orchestra…The magic of the score unfolds particularly in the woodwinds.
Concerti (Michael Kaminski) 12 May 2026
Musically, there is an infinite amount to discover…Benjamin writes concrete, narrative music, of sighing, melismas, cold-hearted strings, earthy recorders and the seductive song of an oboe.
Die neue musikzeitung (Christophe Becher) May 2026
[Benjamin] is an excellent craftsman who writes music that is coherent, sophisticated and catchy without being banal…[the score] skilfully and enjoyably exploits the ups and downs. The lovers' voices merge – too good to be true – before being caught up in a fierce exchange of blows from the brass. The voice of the craftsman repeatedly tips into the highest register, hinting at the psychological abysses that finally reveal themselves unmistakably in a shrill rebellion of the orchestra. In the garden scene, the voices ensnare each other like creepers and the music shimmers and glitters.
Gazette Neue Musik in NWR (Petra Hedler) 26 May 2026
The ambiguity of the ending is a great strength of the opera, which feels incredibly concentrated and, despite its brevity, grapples with profound questions…Benjamin's score…captivates with its sensual, delicate character, though it can certainly become quite loud at the dramatic climaxes – yet even then, the sound remains crystalline and transparent. The music possesses a fragile quality that speaks with captivating beauty of the fragility of happiness…the Gürzenich Orchestra plays with rich colour and nuance…A highlight of the season…
Online Musik Magazin (Stefan Schmöe) 10 May 2026
The opera is cast in seven scenes. It tells the story of a Woman who has lost her child: if, before nightfall, she meets one truly happy person and cuts a button from their sleeve, her child will live again. In this search she meets a pair of Lovers, a Composer and their Assistant, an Artisan, Collector, and the mysterious Zabelle. Listen to the world premiere recording of Picture a day like this here.
The fourth collaboration from the celebrated partnership of composer and playwright, Picture a day like this was co-commissioned and co-produced by the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, Opéra national du Rhin, Opéra Comique, and les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Oper Köln and Teatro di San Carlo – it received its Italian premiere with the latter in October 2025.
The cast comprised Adriana Bastidas-Gamboa (Woman), Emily Hindrichs (Zabelle), Elisabeth Reiter (Lover 1/Composer), Cameron Shahbazi (Lover 2/Composer’s Assistant) and John Brancy and George Clark (Artisan/Collector). In March 2026 Reiter made a celebrated role debut in Tatjana Gürbaca’s new production of Benjamin and Crimp’s Written on Skin at Oper Frankfurt, which was conducted by Erik Nielsen – read the reviews here.
Picture a day like this will appear again in Germany in November 2026 as part of musica viva, performed in concert by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle, and the world premiere cast from the Aix Festival. It is billed alongside Benjamin’s Divisions for piano four hands, which he will perform in the first half with Pierre-Laurent Aimard. The world premiere recording of the opera on Nimbus, with the composer conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the original cast from the Aix Festival, received a Gramophone Award in the Contemporary category in 2025.