Hildegard at The Wallis

The year is 1147, and the brilliant, pioneering composer Hildegard von Bingen is receiving visions from God. There’s always the chance that the church will turn on her as a heretic, but she decides to document her visions, enlisting her fellow nun Richardis von Stade to illustrate the manuscript. As their passion project bleeds into passion, the two women are forced to confront the powers that would see them struck from history rather than making it.

Composer-librettist Sarah Kirkland Snider's compositions have been hailed as “rapturous” (New York Times), “groundbreaking” (Boston Globe) and “ravishingly beautiful” (NPR). Known for her orchestral and chamber works, featuring music of direct expression and dramatic narrative, she comes to opera for the first time with Hildegard. This highly anticipated world premiere marks LA Opera's 17th innovative collaboration with the pioneering Beth Morrison Projects, hailed as “a driving force behind America’s thriving opera scene” (Financial Times) and a company that “more than any other… has helped propel the art form into the 21st century” (Opera News).