In "... (Iphigenia)," two of the most visionary and daring musical voices of our time - composer Wayne Shorter, and librettist and performer Esperanza Spalding, have created a modern operatic re-imagining of a powerful ancient story.
The production is directed by Obie Award winner
Lileana Blain-Cruz, and conducted by Clark Rundell, with scenic design by
Frank Gehry - longtime friend and creative collaborator of Shorter and spalding's. Costume design is by
Montana Levi Blanco, lighting design by
Jen Schriever and sound design by
Mark Grey. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw contributed vocal arrangements along with spalding and Phillip Golub. Additional text is provided by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Safiya Sinclair, and Ganavya Doraiswamy.
"... (Iphigenia)" will be performed at The Broad Stage, February 18 and 19 at 7:30pm. Tickets starting at $45 are available at
thebroadstage.org or by calling 310.434.3200, or visiting the box office at 1310 11th St. Santa Monica CA 90401, beginning two hours prior to performance.
Unlike traditional operas which open in a different city once a season, "... (Iphigenia)" debuted as a traveling operatic performance with stops in Boston (ArtsEmerson, November 12 and 13), Washington, DC (
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, December 10 and 11), and Berkeley (Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley, February 12).
spalding will lead a cast of 15 and a chamber orchestra local to each venue. They will be accompanied by stars of the jazz world including Brian Blade, John Patitucci and Danilo Pérez from the Wayne Shorter Quartet, and Jeff "Tain" Watts (at MASS MoCa and ArtsEmerson)
Shorter and spalding's "... (Iphigenia)," unlike its forebears, is not an adaptation of the Greek myth as much as it is an intervention into myth-making itself, and an intervention into music and opera as we know it. Classical and jazz forms collide in a full orchestral score that features Shorter's groundbreaking method of symphonic improvisation. spalding's libretto is deeply poetic and then suddenly radical - "Iphigenia" is multiplied, her identity is fractured and shared until the stage is occupied by a chorus of her.
"... (Iphigenia)" stares down the history of opera and makes some demands on its future: No more tragic women singing through suicide and going mad in perfect pitch. No more spectacles of women dead and dying. In the end Shorter and spalding turn their gaze outward beyond the stage: What will we make, they ask, at this precise moment in our collective present when we are so desperately in need of new visions for the world.
"Our '... (Iphigenia)' has at its core a sense of autonomy," says spalding. "In this adventure of life, you have freedom of choice. All cards are on the table and Iphigenia gets to choose, free of everything. Through her example, we can learn how to take a creative approach to everything, using the power of spontaneous engagement. The overarching sentiment is one of humanistic love, of wanting to re-awaken the dreams of youth free of the pressures of adulthood."
"... (Iphigenia)" is produced by Jeff Tang (Executive Creative Producer), Cath Brittan (Producer) and
Mara Isaacs (Octopus Theatricals, Tour Producer), and the opera is made possible by Real Magic, a company created by spalding and Tang, to develop "Iphigenia" in an environment of radical experimentation and open collaboration.
"... (Iphigenia)" is co-commissioned by Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley;
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, DC); The Broad Stage (Los Angeles); ArtsEmerson (Boston); Carolina Performing Arts (Chapel Hill, NC); and MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA).
Generous support for "... (Iphigenia)" is provided by the Ford Foundation, The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Alexander Leff, Thomas M. Neff, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, New Music USA, and everyone who gave to the "Iphigenia" crowdfunding campaign.
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