premiered works
HAGOROMO
HAGOROMO
Composed by nathan davis
Libretto by brendan pelsue
An angel’s garment, possessed of mysterious powers, falls to a remote island on Earth, where it is found by a poor fisherman. To get it back, the angel offers up her greatest celestial gift: a dance of incomparable beauty.
Reuniting former NYCB principal dancers Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto, HAGOROMO is a 90 minute multidisciplinary work of dance-chamber opera inspired by one of the masterpieces of Japanese Noh drama, featuring contralto Katalin Károlyi and tenor Peter Tantsits, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and Brooklyn Youth Chorus. A thoroughly contemporary vision, this retelling is a bold experiment in hybrid forms: a chamber opera composed by Nathan Davis and librettist Brendan Pelsue, with dance choreographed by David Neumann, puppetry by Chris M. Green, dramaturgy by Norman Frisch, and costumes created by the celebrated Belgian designer Dries Van Noten.
LIVE RECORDING FROM THE WORLD PREMIERE OF Hagaromo at Brooklyn Academy of Music
November 5-7, 2015
AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE HERE
CREATORS
PRESS
““Hagoromo is magic…stunningly beautiful. The score is lyrically evocative””
“Nathan Davis writes music that deals deftly and poetically with timbre and sonority” – The New York Times
"No theatre artist in New York is showing more poetic force or technical skill than the puppeteer Basil Twist." - The New Yorker
“... (David Michalek) has seamlessly integrated the worlds of experimental music, dance, theatre, opera, puppetry and fashion into a rich, sober whole.” - Financial Times
"[Whelan] tips her torso strangely sideways, opens her palms quietly to the audience, or turns her head to regard Mr. Soto, we feel her magic." - The New York Times
“Critic's Choice: "Davis strikes a balance between musical experimentation and more familiar vocal writing. Contrapuntal passages of Mozartean elegance emerge unexpectedly from chaotic textures, and the expressive motives of Baroque composition provide a Western equivalent to Noh’s stylization. Rather than attempt an exact re-creation or even a hybrid of the art form, Davis reinterprets its theatrical and musical conventions through his own style." - Opera News
"visually arresting, musically adventurous, dramatically taut, and choreographically appealing” - Today's Zaman
”One event among those I attended stood out, because of the particular excitement of the capacity audience: the world premiere of Hagoromo, a multi-media work combining dance, puppetry, singing, and instrumental performance all so artfully combined that the rest of the theatrical ensemble, sets, lighting, and costume, sprang into life in a rare way.” - New York Arts
Information
Duration 90' / no intermission
Commission Hagoromo was commissioned and developed by The American Opera Project for premiere at The Brooklyn Academy of Music. Libretto was commissioned by The American Opera Project. Nathan Davis’ original score was created through ICE’s First Page commissioning program in memory of Claude Arpels and thanks to the lead support of Van Cleef & Arpels, Marisa Arpels, and Claude J. Arpels. Hagoromo received production development support from American Dance Institute (ADI)’s Incubator residency program.
World Premiere Nov 3—Nov 8, 2015. The American Opera Project presented by BAM Next Wave Festival, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, BAM Strong · Harvey Theater, Brooklyn, NY
Roles (2) The Angel · Contralto & Dancer ; (2) The Fisherman · Tenor and Dancer ; (20) Girls choir ; (6) Puppeteers
Instrumentation (5) dulcimer, guitar, violin, flute, bassoon, percussion, contrabass-flute.
Publisher Staged performances of this work require licensing through the composer.