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Event
Festival Opera presents Ullmann's "The Emperor of Atlantis" and Heggie's "Another Sunrise"
Festival Opera is proud to present two powerful chamber operas: Viktor Ullmann's "The Emperor of Atlantis" and Jake Heggie's "Another Sunrise."
"The Emperor of Atlantis" ("Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung") is also called "The Emperor of Atlantis or Death Quits." It is a one-act opera by Viktor Ullmann with a libretto by Peter Kien. They collaborated on the work while interned in the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt (Terezín) around 1943. The Nazis did not allowed it to be performed there. The opera dared to satirize the political situation of WWII while delivering timeless messages of the power of life and death. A struggle between a deluded, warring emperor and Death itself wreaks havoc on humanity until one of them gains the upper hand in "The Emperor of Atlantis."
Written in four scenes, the opera features a small cast of singers as well as a thirteen-piece chamber orchestra. The opera's West Coast premiere was in 1977 at the San Francisco Spring Opera Theater, a branch of the San Francisco Opera.
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Composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer created their short opera, "Another Sunrise," based on the life of World War II Polish resistance member Krystyna Zywulska. It was commissioned by Music of Remembrance and had its world premiere in 2012 in Seattle, Washington at Music of Remembrance's Holocaust Remembrance Day concert.
In this moving short work, Zywulska struggles to tell her story to a tape recorder during a sleepless night -- and shows us that sometimes the memories may be there -- but there are no words to describe them. This brief work goes to the essence of what it takes to survive.
Beth Greenberg will direct an exciting cast for both productions, featuring Eugene Brancoveanu, Marie Plette, Philip Skinner, Rebecca Garcia, Christopher Bengochea, Roberto Perlas Gomez, and Valentina Osinski, .
You won't want to miss these profound and moving operas. Performances will be presented by Festival Opera in the intimate setting of Bortin Hall at the Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church in Walnut Creek, CA.
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LocationMt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church (View)
55 Eckley Lane
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 10 |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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