Heartbeat Opera returns to the essence of opera. In intimate settings, with reduced orchestrations, we place the singers - their presence, passion, and superhuman ability to produce miraculous sounds – at the center of our work. Heartbeat Opera's second annual Spring Festival plays March 10-20 in the Theatre at St. Clement's.
At the heart of the festival are two fully mounted productions of newly envisioned operatic classics: Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in a new 90-minute adaptation, and an intimate production of the first English opera, Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.
Heartbeat Opera's resident ensemble Cantata Profana, led by Jacob Ashworth and Daniel Schlosberg, will be playing
Lucia di Lammermoor, helmed by Co-Artistic Director Louisa Proske, is a radical and intimate new vision of Donizetti's masterpiece pared down to 90 minutes, six singers and five instrumentalists. The production features a new arrangement of the score by Daniel Schlosberg for piano, cello, clarinet, guitar, and percussion. In this staging, a nameless asylum inmate reimagines Lucia as a wild, anarchic, and daring heroine who struggles to break free from the prison of family and society.
Co-Artistic Director Ethan Heard's production of Dido and Aeneas manifests the magic and the mischief of Purcell's sublime score. By mingling the five singers (who also comprise the chorus) and six instrumentalists on stage with some of the audience, Heartbeat makes this Dido visceral and contemporary. Spurred on by three evil spirits, the queen has no choice but to embrace her love and her destiny.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
VISIT - http://www.heartbeatopera.org/festival/
