OTELLO

Brett is once again teaming up with Belgian composer Fabrizio Cassol and Berlin-based Serbian conductor Premil Petrovic, to create a radical take on Verdi’s operatic masterpiece, OTELLO. This follows their critically acclaimed and highly successful adaptation of Verdi’s MACBETH. Joining them are award-winning South African choral arranger Bongani Magatyana, and Germany-based South African tenor/director Vongani Bavula, who will assist Bailey. The intended premiere is in mid-2026.

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A world on fire... Verdi’s dark masterpiece of control, deception and jealousy, entangled with the fracturing of our world – political, social, environmental – in the 21st century. An iconoclastic, fast-paced, apocalyptic adaptation, tightly focussed on the dynamics of agony, rage and cruelty that ricochet amongst the 3 main characters.

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Brett has edited Verdi’s work down to focus on the 3 main protagonists, and Fabrizio is rescoring the music for 6 singers and 10 musicians, with the inclusion of African percussion. The work is set in a contemporary context in the global south, riven by war, polarisation and ecological collapse. Thematically, Bailey is not so much interested in Otello’s racial otherness, as in the vision of tolerance and peace that the cross-cultural relationship between the lovers embodies, and Iago’s machinations to destroy that vision. 

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This OTELLO aims a cold lens at xenophobia, misogyny, domestic violence, disinformation, and the human and environmental costs of the ruthless exploitation of natural resources in the shadows of the headlines. It probes themes of (a)morality, entropy, trauma and healing.

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As in all of Brett's works, strong visual design is employed as a narrative device rather than merely as scenography. Fabrizio's is a slow and painstaking process, considering the vastly reduced company, and the need to create musical bridges where cuts have been made. Premil, the artistic director of the Balkans-based No Borders Orchestra, will conduct.  

Working deeply with the performers, the creative team intends to make an exciting, intense and intelligent work that will bring Verdi’s masterpiece to new audiences.