Remember Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen, also known as The Celebration? Filmed under the fanatically restrictive tenets of the Danish Dogme 95 movement (founded by Vinterberg and Lars van Trier), the scorching dramedy focused on a family gathered at a ritzy hotel to fête their tycoon patriarch on his 60th birthday. How awkward, that a daughter of his has recently committed suicide. How doubly so that a son pipes up to accuse Dad of sexual abuse—not only of the dead daughter but also of himself. At Covent Garden, the scandal plays out to a score by the bold polystylist Mark-Anthony Turnage, whose previous operas include highly regarded adaptations of the Oedipus saga and Sean O’Casey’s The Silver Tassie, as well as Anne Nicole, based on the tabloid life and times of the 26-year-old former Playboy model who espoused the oil baron J. Howard Smith, 63 years her senior. The libretto is by Lee Hall, who in his screenplay, book, and song lyrics for the movie and the musical Billy Elliot created the brand-new archetype of a working-class lad enamored of ballet. The high-powered cast includes Allan Clayton, Stéphane Degout, Gerald Finley, Rosie Aldridge, and Natalya Romaniw. Edward Gardner conducts. The director is Richard Jones. Starry talents indeed, and the anticipated running time is a breezy 90 minutes. —Matthew Gurewitsch