On Monday, September 18–Tuesday, September 19, Saturday, September 23–Monday, September 25 The Barnes Foundation will host the world premier of “The Wake World.” This production is being directed by R.B. Schlather; music and libretto is by David Hertzberg, based on the story “The Wake World” by Aleister Crowley. The opera is being performed in English with English super-titles. The Foundation’s site states:
“In this world premiere, two of the early 20th century’s most prolific and polarizing artistic visionaries collide: physician, collector, and writer Dr. Albert C. Barnes (1872–1951) and Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), the British poet, magician, and occultist once dubbed the “wickedest man in the world.” In a one-act opera inspired by Crowley’s ecstatic fairy tale “The Wake World,” visitors will experience the Barnes collection like never before. Works of art jump off the gallery walls and into the action as the museum is transformed, with the voices of the Opera Philadelphia Chorus drawing the audience through a vivid, mystical world. A fully immersive performance, The Wake World challenges understandings of art, opera, and the self in a way audiences are unlikely to forget.”
The Barnes Foundation is located at 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Here’s a video interview with the folks involved: https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/on-stage-2017-2018/the-wake-world/
For more information visit: http://www.barnesfoundation.org/programs/september-2017/opera-philadelphia-the-wake-world.
and https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/on-stage-2017-2018/the-wake-world/.
pre-order tickets here: https://tix.operaphila.org/single/PSDetail.aspx?psn=28065
