Venus & Adonis/Savitri

John Blow’s VENUS & ADONIS and Gustav Holst’s SAVITRI

presented at

THE FLEA THEATER
20 Thomas St, New York, NY 10007

John Blow’s opera, Venus and Adonis , explores and exploits the themes of power play, manipulation, and yearning. Venus’s reluctance to surrender coupled with Adonis’s innocence leads to both a tragic accident and poignant transcendence. The work was the first to have been written by a female librettist, Anne Finch.

Blow’s reinterpretation of the myth features sensual English baroque music and scenes of love, desire and playful pageantry of cupids. Controversially categorized by some scholars as the first English baroque opera, this piece inspired legendary later works including Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas .

PERFORMANCE INFO

Thursday, November 29 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 1 at 7:30pm
Saturday, December 2 at 2:00pm

Running time: Approximately 90 minutes
Language: English

John Blow’s opera, Venus and Adonis , explores and exploits the themes of power play, manipulation, and yearning. Venus’s reluctance to surrender coupled with Adonis’s innocence leads to both a tragic accident and poignant transcendence. The work was the first to have been written by a female librettist, Anne Finch.

Blow’s reinterpretation of the myth features sensual English baroque music and scenes of love, desire and playful pageantry of cupids. Controversially categorized by some scholars as the first English baroque opera, this piece inspired legendary later works including Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas .

CAST

Venus – Barbara Porto
Adonis – Scott Lindroth
Cupid – Julia Cavallaro
Huntsman – Biraj Barkakaty
Shepherdess – Emily Hughes
Ensemble (Adonis Cover)- Brian Alvarado

Gustav Holst was quite taken with Hindu writings in his early career and it was as a result of his studies in Sanskrit that Savitri emerged in 1908. Based on a story from the Mahābhārata, the one act opera depicts a devoted wife (Savitri) who, through unusual fortitude and pointed acumen, releases her husband (Satyavan) from the supposedly irrevocable call of Death.

This production will honor the Indian culture that gave us this story and feature singers of South Asian heritage.

CAST

Sāvitri – Samina Aslam
Satyavan – Daniel Ambe
Death – Angky Budiardjono
Mithuna Sivaraman – Ensemble (Sāvitri cover)

CREATIVE TEAM

Director - Jennifer Williams
Stage Director - Jennifer Williams
Music Director - Stephan Fillare
Costume Designer - Asa Benally
Lighting designer - Emily Clarkson
Projection Designer - Yee Eun Nam
Stage Manager - Miriam Rochford

ORCHESTRA

Flute: Chrissy Fong, Amy Umlah
Bassoon: Charles McCracken  |  English Horn: Jeffrey Reinhardt 
Violins: Adam von Housen, Laura Bald, Eddie Findeisen
Viola: Krisztina Kiss, Brianne Lugo  |  Cello: James Pedersen, Brianne Lugo  |  Bass: Mike Levin

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