Margaret Atwood Discusses BLO's THE HANDMAID'S TALE At CitySpace

One day before the East Coast premiere of the opera "The Handmaid's Tale," Boston Lyric Opera and WBUR bring author Margaret Atwood and composer Poul Ruders to WBUR CitySpace at the Lavine Broadcast Center to discuss the galvanizing 1985 novel, its resurgence in contemporary culture, and its reimagining as a contemporary opera.

"The Handmaid's Aria: How an Iconic Novel Became an Opera" takes place May 4, 2019 at 4 pm at WBUR's new state-of-the-art multimedia venue at 890 Commonwealth Avenue on the Boston University campus. Tickets are available now at www.wbur.org/cityspace.

Maria Garcia, senior editor of WBUR's The ARTery, will interview Atwood and Ruders about the connections between her novel and his opera, whose libretto is by Paul Bentley. Recordings of Ruders' massive, haunting score will be played and discussed, along with piano and vocal selections that underscore the text.

Boston Lyric Opera's production of The Handmaid's Tale runs May 5-12, 2019. It will be directed by acclaimed theatre and opera director Anne Bogart, and staged at the Lavietes Pavilion, a basketball facility on Harvard's Allston campus that recalls the "Red Center" of Atwood's novel. Tickets for The Handmaid's Tale opera are available at blo.org/handmaids or 617-542-6772.