Visitations: Theotokia And The War Reporter Two Chamber Operas

Visitations: Theotokia And The War Reporter Two Chamber Operas

Jonathan Berger, composer / Dan O’Brien, libretto / Rinde Eckert, director / Christopher Rountree, conductor

Friday, April 12, 2013 | 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 13, 2013 | 8:00 pm

Bing Concert Hall

$20.00–56.00 (Adult) | $10.00 (Stanford Student)
$15.00–51.00 (Other Student)
$10.00–28.00 (Youth Under 18)

Stanford Faculty/Staff Final-Week Discount is not available for this performance.

Drawing on the combined talents of an award-winning creative team and an all-star cast from the spheres of opera and chamber music, these two new chamber operas present the stories of two people, each haunted by inner voices. Composer and Stanford Professor of Music Berger transforms the concert hall into the interior world of the mind in a pair of tender and powerful dramas directed by Grammy winner Rinde Eckert.

Theotokia takes the audience inside the mind of a man possessed by ritualistic and religious hallucinatory voices. These delusions portray the inner struggle of mental illness in a rich musical, dramatic, and philosophical counterpoint.

The War Reporter is based on the true story of Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist Paul Watson. Convinced that he is haunted by the ghost of an American soldier he photographed in Mogadishu in 1993, Watson seeks to rid himself of this curse. Librettist Dan O’Brien’s interviews with Watson are the primary source for the work.

PERFORMERS:

Heather Buck, soprano

New York Polyphony:
Geoffrey Williams, countertenor
Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor
Christopher Dylan Herbert, baritone
Craig Phillips, bass

St. Lawrence String Quartet:
Geoff Nutall & Scott St. John, violins; Lesley Robertson, viola; Christopher Costanza, cello

Stephen Tramontozzi, bass;
Tara Helen O’Connor, flute;
Pascal Archer, clarinet;
Pedja Muzijevic, piano;
Steven Schick, percussion

DISCUSSION

POST-PERFORMANCE DISCUSSION with Jonathan Berger (composer) and Rinde Eckert (director) will take place in the concert hall immediately following both performances.

Acknowledgments

Generously supported by Sponsors Bonnie and Marty Tenenbaum
New York Polyphony’s participation is generously supported by Clinton and Mary Gilliland. St. Lawrence String Quartet’s participation is generously supported by Paul and Iris Brest.
Commissioned by Stanford Live at Stanford University