Squatters’ rites, sacred sites in We Shall Not Be Moved

Kirstin Chávez (Glenda) and Lauren Whitehead (Un/Sung)

Lauren Whitehead (Un/Sung)

Kirstin Chávez (Glenda) and Lauren Whitehead (Un/Sung)

By Hilary Stroh, 17 September 2017

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“This is a city opera, and as such, a significant contribution to a city festival”

Reviewed at Wilma Theater, Philadelphia on 16 September 2017

Roumain, We Shall Not Be Moved

Opera Philadelphia

Viswa Subbaraman, Conductor

Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Director

Matt Saunders, Set Designer

Liz Prince, Costume Designer

Lauren Whitehead, Un/Sung

Kirstin Chávez, Glenda

John Holiday, John Blue

Adam Richardson, John Mack

Aubrey Allicock, John Henry

A sorta fairy tale: Sleepers Awake premieres at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 22nd April

A new opera by Gregory Spears subverts the Sleeping Beauty trope, with middling results.

**111

Opera by committee: Opera Philadelphia premieres Complications in Sue

Cameron Kelsall, 4th February

Opera Philadelphia commissions ten composers to tell the story of an ordinary woman's idiosyncratic march from cradle to tomb.

****1

A didactic Decameron: The Seasons at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 20th December

Conceived by Anthony Roth Costanzo and Sarah Ruhl, this high-handed pasticcio sets the climate crisis to a soundtrack of Vivaldi.

***11

A long, strange trip: Opera Philadelphia’s Il viaggio a Reims

Cameron Kelsall, 19th September

The intrepid company brings Damiano Michieletto’s well-traveled production of a Rossini rarity to the US for the first time.

***11

The Listeners: daring psychological thriller at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 25th September

The new opera by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek draws on cult mindsets and conspiracy theories but smartly avoids sensationalism.

****1

Opera Philadelphia's Unholy Wars creates a dialogue with Monteverdi

Cameron Kelsall, 23rd September

Arab-American tenor Karim Sulayman devises a thoughtful pastiche that centers the perspective omitted from Early Modern depictions of the Middle East in music.

****1

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Hilary Stroh

Hilary is an independent scholar and academic historian, based in DC. She has a background in violin, piano and ballet. Educated at Dublin and Cambridge, she has recently published her first two books.