Upon this Handful of Earth with SMSS at St. Ignatius Loyola, 980 Park Avenue, NY, NY

February 24, 2017
7:00 PM

Gisle Kverndokk, Composer
Aksel-Otto Bull, Librettist
K. Scott Warren, conductor
Joachim Schamberger, Director
Isai Jess Munoz, Assistant Director
Nathan Scheuer, Lighting Design
Caitlin Rain, Costume Design

Shannon DeVine, baritone The Priest
Sarah Hawkey, soprano The Child
Nadia Petrella, soprano  The Young Woman
John Tiranno, tenor  The Young Man
Sara Murphy, mezzo-soprano  The Wife
Kenneth Overton, baritone  The Businessman

Choir and Children’s Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola
New York Opera Society Orchestra

In honor of the publication of “Laudato Si,” Pope Francis’ recent encyclical about the environment, SMSS and The New York Opera Society (NYOS) have commissioned a new chamber opera from renowned Norwegian composer Gisle Kverndokk and librettist Aksel-Otto Bull based on the writings of Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

Inspired by and featuring Teilhard’s “Mass on the World,” Kverndokk’s opera tells the stories of people whose lives have been irrevocably altered by environmental catastrophes: Chernobyl, the tsunamis, pollution and climate change. The work offers a hopeful, empowering meditation on the way forward from the human and environmental toll of these events.

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This production has been made possible by Arts Council Norway/The Audio and Visual Fund, The Norwegian Composers Fund, The Lyric Writers Fund in Norway and The Dan & Gloria Bohan Foundation