New semi-staged version of Darkling premieres in Philadelphia

Philadelphia audiences finally got to experience the multimedia opera-theatre work Darkling when it premiered in a new, semi-staged version for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival presented by Center City Opera Theater on Sep 8, 10, and 12, 2009. Conductor and CCOT Artistic Director Andrew Kurtz brought composer Stefan Weisman and librettist Anna Rabinowitz's haunting experimental work to life as part of ConNEXTions 2009: The Next Generation of Opera.  Spanning the decades from the 1930’s to the post-World War period, Darkling is a remarkable story of a poet who struggles to identify and interpret the stories of various Polish-Jewish family  affected by the extraordinary events of the Holocaust based only on the few letters and photographs they left behind. Maeve Hoglund as the bride fleeing to America in the Sep 2009 performance of Darkling in Philadelphia.

Returning singers Hai-Ting Chinn and Jon Garrison joined with Maeve Hoglund, Martin Hargrove and Jason Switzer, narrator Sharon Sigal, and a string quartet under the stage direction of Matt Gray. AOP premiered Darkling in 2006 at the East 13th Street Theater in a fully staged version conceived and directed by Michael Comlish. A concert version also developed by Mr. Comlish toured through Europe in 2007.

AOP on the Road, DarklingThe American Opera ProjectAndrew Kurtz, Anna Rabinowitz, Center City Opera Theater, Hai-Ting Chinn, holocaust, Jason Switzer, Jon Garrison, Maeve Hoglund, Martin Hargrove, Matt Gray, Michael Comlish, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Sharon Sigal, Stefan WeismanComment