The Exterminating Angel, Royal Opera House, London, review: Part existential nightmare, part Lord of the Flies, it robustly resists formal analysis

And so to the UK premiere of Adès’s third opera: a slice of surrealist noir based on Buñuel’s 1962 film The Exterminating Angel, where a group of well-heeled dinner-party guests find themselves mysteriously unable to leave, and over the ensuing days social order breaks down. Part existential nightmare, part Lord of the Flies, it robustly resists formal analysis.

Tom Cairns, librettist and director of Adès’s second opera The Tempest, performs the same duties here, ingeniously depicting Sixties luxury sliding into shadowy delirium. The production (Adès conducting) boasts an array of top-flight singers, any one of whom would be a draw in their own right: John Tomlinson bringing his comic touch to Doctor Conde; Sophie Bevan beautifully duetting as a young bride, Iestyn Davies characterful and compelling as ever, with virtuoso American soprano Audrey Luna glittering up in her other-worldly stratosphere.

Adès’s knowing score is as happy to contemplate a beautiful requiem as mixing in flamenco, equally inclined to use drumming to make a militaristic point as enjoy its cycles. New here is his fascination with bells (as repeating reminders of eternity in the river of time), and use of the eerie ondes martenot (associated with the exterminating angel – though whatever that might be is never made explicit). It can sometimes feel like Adès is playing with puzzles and drilling down so deep into the nature of his musical material that a first-time listener can’t follow, but it is without doubt one heck of a ride.