Sung in English
New Boston Lyric Opera production, US premiere
Libretto by Michael Symmons Roberts
February 6, 7, 9, 10m, 2013 at the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter
100 West 2nd Street, Boston
Evening performances begin at 8pm. Matinee (m) begins at 2pm.
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.
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 Schucking, 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 makes these three dramatic figures the center point for the evening's theatrical interpretation.