TOMORROW: James MacMillan at Brandeis - FREE for the Public

James MacMillan at Brandeis University

Tuesday, February 5, 3:30pm

Slosberg Music Center

Brandeis University

415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453. 

This event is free and open to the public!  

 “The story of Clemency comes from a strange episode in Genesis that many people have puzzled over for years. What is the significance of it? What is the meaning of it?” – James MacMillan

This Tuesday, February 5, Brandeis University will host a discussion exploring  the significance of Clemency’s story.  Dr. Jonathan P. Decter, Edmond J. Safra Professor of Sephardic Studies at Brandeis University,  currently teaches a course Introduction to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam at the university.  Dr. Decter will open his class to the public for a special discussion of the significance the story of Abraham and Sarah holds for these three faiths. He will be joined by Clemency composer  James MacMillan, who often  finds inspiration from spiritual sources.   Clemency  is no exception.   MacMillan will speak about how these figures inspired an opera.   BLO’s Opera Annex production will be the US premier of Clemency. 

  

BLO’s critically-acclaimed Opera Annex continues with the US premiere of James MacMillan’s Clemency. The libretto, by poet Michael Symmons Roberts, is drawn from the book of Genesis. Abraham and Sarah are childless and nearing the end of their lives. They are approached by three travelers who share the unexpected and miraculous news that Sarah will have a child in old age. The mood darkens as it becomes clear that the travelers are on a mission of vengeance upon the neighboring towns, and Abraham pleads clemency for their inhabitants.  Falling before the moment when Abraham takes his son Isaac up the mountain to be sacrificed and after he has banished his handmaid Hagar and his son by her, Ishmael, the story of Abraham’s encounter with the three travelers makes a crucial and oft-puzzled over change in him.

 

For its US premier at the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter beginning February 6, Clemency will be preceded by a performance of Franz Schubert’s Hagar’s Lament. The song, its lyrics drawn from a moving poem by Clemens August Schücking, centers on Hagar—mother of Abraham’s firstborn child—who poignantly sings of her sadness and anger after being abandoned in the desert with her dying son. The pairing of the two works allows the audience to compare not only the musical styles of MacMillan (a living composer) and Schubert, but also draws attention to the histories of Ishmael and Isaac, the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham’s personal struggle with clemency.

 

For a synopsis of BLO’s Opera Annex production of Clemency , including Hagar’s Lament, visit http://blo.org/events/james-macmillans-clemency/

Clemency - Design by Julia Noulin-Mérat

 Please enjoy these photographs of models of the set of Clemency!

 

 

Clemency - Notes from Director, Andrew Eggert

The creation of Boston Lyric Opera's production of Clemency has inspired a journey into the multiple musical and intellectual layers of the ancient biblical story of Abraham and Sarah. Figures from the Old Testament have long held a position of prominence in Western art music, in both sacred and secular works. James MacMillan's opera joins a tradition of works that renegotiate the traditional boundaries of genre, presenting audiences with a drama on themes of faith, in a contemporary musical language that offers a bold new reading of an ancient tale.

When Abraham and Sarah are visited by a group of three travelers, their faith and aspirations for the future are repeatedly challenged. These episodes drawn from the Book of Genesis all hinge upon acts of faith in times of doubt. The three travelers represent the embodied potency of the divine presence on earth, but they are a divinity that cannot be predicted. Abraham and Sarah are left questioning whether they are ultimately angels of mercy or angels of vengeance.

As an accompanying drama, our production introduces the figure of Hagar, Sarah's handmaid. We open with an early song by Franz Schubert, Hagar's Lament, as a narrative prelude that encompasses Hagar's struggles after being sent into exile by Abraham and Sarah. Schubert's musicalization of the inner world of Hagar resonates deeply with the themes of the opera. As the mother of Abraham's son, Ishmael, Hagar represents the origin of the other major branch of the Abrahamic line that would give rise to the faith of Islam. By integrating Hagar into the narrative, the domestic drama peers into the lives of husband, wife, and mistress and cuts across lines of social class, caste, and religion.

Presented in collaboration with the Artists For Humanities EpiCenter, our design for the opera is governed by the concept of creating an immersive theatrical environment. Beginning with the architecture of the EpiCenter's gallery space, we have treated the entire room as a stage in which multiple layers of action unfold. At the very center of the space, surrounded by and extending above the audience, we have placed the construction of a tree, an organic symbol of shelter and a metaphorical referent to the presence of the divine (a theme that recurs throughout scripture: the tree of knowledge, the burning bush, the oaks of Mamre). Yet our entire design is also conceptually driven by the idea of re-purposing the materials of the modern world. The materials in our scenic installation span the spectrum from the raw/natural to the fabricated, and we have considered the ways in which a new construction made from recycled pieces can give second life to pre- and post-consumer materials.

Clemency challenges us to rethink ourselves, to measure the impact of our lives in a modern world that continues to be marked politically and spiritually by acts of mercy and acts of vengeance. The contemporary relevance of the opera reaches a peak in the final scene, when the three travelers move on from the home of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar in order to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Here, again, the line between faith and action is tested. Modern-day headlines of conflict in the Middle East and other regions of the world remind us that religious fundamentalism continues to drive human beings to desperate acts of destruction. Now, perhaps more than ever, Abraham's plea for mercy must be heard.

- Director, Andrew Eggert

"Milk-punch o wisky?"

The Inspector cast toasts to "new Italy." Photo by Erik Jacobs.

That's what Lieutenant Pinkerton offers the American consul Sharpless as they await the arrival of Pinkerton's geisha bride, Madama Butterfly. (What IS "milk-punch" anyway? It sounds rather nasty... I'll have to Google it.)  Next season at BLO, it turns out, is full of drinking and eating. There are two on-stage wedding celebrations complete with toasts (and snacks?) - Madama Butterfly and Così Fan Tutte - and an obviously boozy  sailors' homecoming celebration in The Flying Dutchman. One of the central actions and important symbolic gestures of Clemency is the preparation (on stage) and serving of a meal to three strangers (who turn out to be angels - moral obvious). Interestingly, all of these ostensibly happy celebrations turn out in the end to lead to or prefigure dire, even tragic, events. ("That's opera, Doc.")

The New York Times took a closer look at operatic eating and drinking this week, read the full article here.  

 - BLO Artistic Advisor John Conklin 

 

JAMES MACMILLAN’S CLEMENCY NOMINATED FOR OLIVIER AWARD

James MacMillan’s Clemency—a Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) co-commission with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Scottish Opera; and Britten Sinfonia—has been nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in the category of Best New Opera Production. BLO presents the American premiere of Clemency as part of its recently announced upcoming 2012/2013 Season.  The Olivier Awards will be presented during a ceremony at the Royal Opera House on April 15, 2012.

Clemency is BLO’s 2013 Opera Annex production and will be performed at the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter February 6–10, 2013. The libretto, by poet Michael Symmons Roberts, is drawn from the book of Genesis–Abraham and Sarah are childless and nearing the end of their lives. They are approached by three travelers who share the unexpected and miraculous news that Sarah will have a child in old age. The mood darkens as it becomes clear that the travelers are on a mission of vengeance upon the neighboring towns, and Abraham pleads clemency for their inhabitants.

Widely considered British theatre’s most sought-after awards, the Olivier Awards were inaugurated in 1976 and are presented by the Society of West End Theatre.

BLO’s Opera Annex offers audiences an opportunity to experience opera in an alternative space outside the traditional theater environment. Clemency is BLO’s fourth Opera Annex production.

Hear composer James MacMillan speak about the opera.

Announcing the 2012/13 Season!

Check out our 2012/13 Season!