CIRKUS DAYS & NIGHTS

Circus Days and Nights is a circus opera in two acts composed by Philip Glass during the pandemic 2020-2021, in creative collaboration with Tilde Björfors and David Henry Hwang who wrote the libretto and created the circus universe. Its inspiration is Robert Lax’s masterwork Circus Days and Nights, a collection of poems that draws us into the poet’s fascination with acrobats and the circus lifestyle and takes us on the road with him when he “runs away” and joins a circus in 1940s America. For Lax, the circus becomes a metaphor for the creation and for life itself – the cycle of life and death – and for human yearning and striving. Circus Days and Nights was created at Malmö Opera House and has become a boundary-crossing performance that brings the circus ring into the opera house and vice versa. Due to pandemic restriction, only a small audience has seen the performance live. We are excited to announce that we have plans that will change that! If you would like to be part of celebrating the fantastic Philip Glass's 90th birthday by co-producing or book Circus Days and Nights, opportunities are available from winter 2026 onward. Please contact: nicolai@artsunlimited.se

For credit list and more information about the performance at Malmö Opera House visit www.malmoopera.se

“Its only fair to congratulate Malmö on perhaps the greatest event in its history so far” Bo Löfvendahl SvD

photo: Karolina Henke