David Lang’s note to a friend was commissioned by the Japan Society in New York and the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan centre in Japan, and is inspired by the famous letter written by short story author Ryunosuke Akutagawa to a fellow writer, announcing his intention to take his own life.

Conceived as a chamber opera for solo vocalist and string quartet, the work is also the perfect vehicle for singer Theo Blackmann, who brings a profound emotional weight to his performance, in collaboration with the inimitable Attacca Quartet. The result is a stunning and haunting monodrama that addresses our eternal human fascinations with love, death, family and the phantoms of our daily existence.