Philip Glass's Satyagraha Live from the Met Screened at THT 11/19

Philip Glass's landmark 1980 work, Satyagraha, the much-praised Metropolitan Opera production that will be broadcast live at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater on Saturday, November 19.

Philip Glass's music is deceptively simple, a style that is usually described as minimalist. But the music in Satyagraha is lush and expansive. The layering of simple patterns creates music of great depth and complexity.

In the production, the simple material is newsprint, which is used to create everything from walls to 20 ft. puppets. The newsprint represents Indian Opinion, the paper that Mahatma Gandhi founded as a vital part of the struggle for the rights of South African Indians who were indentured servants to the British. The focus of the opera is the period from 1893 to 1914, the years Gandhi spent in South Africa.

The opera's title refers to Gandhi's concept of non-violent resistance to injustice, Satyagraha. The text, from the Bhagavad Gita, is sung in the original Sanskrit (translated into subtitles on the screen.)

Satyagraha will be broadcast live at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater on Saturday, November 19, at 1 pm. Tickets are $24 and may be purchased at 382-9222, at www.townhalltheater.org, at the THT box office or at the door.