Operas in Concert: Feminist Essays
Thea Musgrave, based on a work by Amalia Elguera
Scottish composer Thea Musgrave’s portrayal of her country’s most famous queen is “drama on a grand scale […] crammed with power, treachery, passion and murder from start to finish” (BBC Music Magazine). Focusing both on Mary’s personal life and her astute (though ultimately tragic) negotiation of the political intrigue swirling around her rule, Mary, Queen of Scots uses Musgrave’s harmonically complex but lyrically direct musical language to powerful effect. The work has enjoyed a recent revival with English National Opera as well as successful concert performances in New York and beyond.
Soloists: Heidi Stober, Nicole Chevalier (Queen Mary); Alex Murray, Franz Xaver Schlecht (Earl of Moray), John Findon, Sven Hjörleifsson (Earl of Bothwell)
trailer, Oper Leipzig
© The Royal Danish Theatre / Camilla Winther
Poul Ruders/Paul Bentley, based on the novel by Margaret Atwood
There are few works of speculative fiction as influential or terrifyingly plausible as Margaret Atwood’s seminal novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Ruders and Bentley bring Atwood’s story of life in the oppressive Republic of Gilead to the operatic stage with a “clear, vivid libretto” (Schwann Inside) and “compelling, eclectic score” (The Telegraph). Whether listeners know the narrative from the novel or the recent TV series, this operatic treatment draws out the drama and terror of living under a dictatorial regime where religion is weaponized for subjugation.
The Handmaid’s Tale is available in both full and reduced orchestrations.
Soloists: Irene Robert, Kate Lindsey (Offred); Lindsay Ammann, Avery Amereau (Serena Joy); John Relyea, James Crewswell (The Commander)
trailer, English National Opera
© New York City Opera/Joe McNally
Mark Adamo, after the novel by Louisa May Alcott
In Little Women, composer and wordsmith Mark Adamo sets Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel, which centers on the four sisters of the March family and chronicles the challenges of growing up female during the American Civil War. Adamo’s key insight is that the central conflict of Little Women is that of protagonist Jo March against the passage of time — a reading that allows him to create a “skillful distillation” (Financial Times) of Alcott’s story filled with “open-hearted yet savvy music” (Musical America). With more than 100 performances to date across both opera stages and concert halls, “there’s just no withstanding the emotional pull of Little Women” (San Francisco Chronicle).
Soloists: Kelly Guerra, Charlotte Badham (Jo March); Mary Feminear, Harriet Eyley (Beth March); Bridget Cappel, Kitty Whately (Meg March); Megan Koch, Elizabeth Karani (Amy March); Charles Calotta, Frederick Jones (Laurie)
'Have Peace, Jo,' Pittsburgh Opera
Art’s Afterlives | Feminist Essays | Casting Off Chains: Abolition and the Civil War | The Americas: Latine Culture and History | East Asian Love Stories | Positively Medieval: Stories of the Middle Ages and Renaissance | Classics of English Fiction | The 19th Century: Great Wars and Colonial Sorrows | Upheavals of the 20th Century | The Weight of Motherhood