The Parting
May 19, 2019 - 12:00 pm
The Parting
a new chamber opera by composer Tom Cipullo and librettist David Mason
Commissioned by Music of Remembrance
World Premiere
May 19, 2019 | 7:30 p.m.
Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall | Benaroya Hall, Seattle
It’s May 19, 1944 – the final evening at home for the great Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti and his beautiful, devoted wife Fanni. Foreseeing his likely fate in a forced labor camp, Radnóti wonders as we often do why we are given life: “To learn what love is. To love. To make beautiful things. To die.” Facing these stark illuminations brings a bright awareness of being.
The Parting is a profound and musically rich meditation on what it means to be an artist but also desire ordinary happiness. It comes from the same brilliant creative team that brought us the award-winning After Life, with its dramatic confrontation between the ghosts of Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso.
Starring: baritone Michael Mayes; mezzo soprano Catherine Cook; and soprano Laura Strickling. Director Erich Parce.
Plus chamber works by three Hungarian composers who perished under Nazi hands
Laszlo Weiner, Duo for violin and viola
Sandor Vandor, Air
Sandor Kuti: Serenade for String Trio
6:45 p.m. Pre-concert talk with composer Tom Cipullo
