Orwellian opera from Maazel

The creators of a new opera based on the novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” did not have to work hard to make George Orwell’s nightmarish vision of a loveless and brutal world meaningful for audiences today. Technology used for surveillance and control, the denial of personal freedom, Doublethink, Newspeak and a seemingly endless war place a work written in 1948 firmly in the 21st century.

Composed by American Lorin Maazel and directed by Canadian Robert Lepage, the opera gets its world premiere at the Royal Opera House in London tonight.

Maazel, 75, who conducts the production, is philosophical about how “1984” will be received by critics, but already there are rumblings that the opera, which Maazel partly funded himself, is little more than a “vanity project” for a venerated conductor.

“There is no way of defending a tradition unless one renews it,” he said. “If this opera in its modest way reaffirms other people’s conviction that the art form is viable and relevant to today’s world, we will all feel that we’ve made an important contribution.”