Seven Last Words

English National Opera presents a unique concert staging of Joseph Haydn’s Seven Last Words on the Cross, and Joel Thompson’s Seven Last Words of the Unarmed.

Tackling complex themes of racial discrimination, each of the seven movements of Thompson’s Seven Last Words of the Unarmed quotes the last words of an unarmed black man, culminating in a sobering meditation of both personal and collective grief.

Haydn’s seminal oratorio offers a measured and emotive reflection of the Disciples’ stories of Christ’s sacrifice in the Christian tradition, with each of the seven movements forming a musical reflection on Jesus’s last words before the crucifixion, as told by the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John.

Conducting the magnificent ENO Orchestra and Chorus (alongside making their ENO debut) are renowned choral conductors Andrew Nethsingha and Kellen Gray, performing the Haydn and Thompson respectively.

Joining the ENO Orchestra for the Haydn are bass Soloman Howard and tenor Frederick Ballentine, alongside current ENO Harewood Artists Nardus Williams and Idunnu Münch.ENO stage a unique concert of Joseph Haydn’s Seven Last Words on the Cross, and Joel Thompson’s Seven Last Words of the Unarmed at the London Coliseum in April 2022.