Opera on a platter from IN Series
Serving up the unexpected has become the signature of innovative, inventive IN Series opera company, under the artistic leadership of Timothy Nelson. This month, from Oct 2 -12, the troupe is collaborating with New York-based Catapult to produce the first-ever fully staged production of Alessandro Stradella’s 1675 Baroque oratorio, St. John the Baptist.
Complete with a world-premiere new English libretto by Helen Hayes’ awardee Bari Biern and helmed by Nelson, the production reimagines the Biblical tale of Salome, Herod, and the titular St. John into a tortured twist on Seventies Suburbia.
Stradella’s version of the story, initially composed as a church oratorio, nearly rivals his own exciting and ill-fated biography for thrills, chills, lust, and gore. Easily as compelling–at once horrifying and intoxicating, lewd and lovely–as the Oscar Wilde play that gave rise to the Strauss opera, Stradella’s oratorio features a score unlike almost any other music of the era (other than his own) to accompany its remarkably original storytelling–managing to harness all the dramatic force of a primal power struggle while exploring complicated psycho-sexual nuance. All to tell the story of Salome, who demands the head of a captive John the Baptist from her stepfather, Herod, and will stop at no boundary or obstacle to get what she wants.
Nelson shared his thoughts on Stradella’s rogue aesthetics, composing style, and radical dramaturgy with me, as you can hear here:
More background information, showtimes and locations, and tickets to this unique theatrical event are all online at INseries.org
Or, for DC audiences: AudienceView Professional
And performances at Baltimore Theatre Project: ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST – Theater Project
For a sense of how complex and multi-faceted such an endeavor can be, and the many moving parts are required to bring an obscure Baroque work to life on stage, here are just some of the creative collaborators involved:
Music by Alessandro Stradella
New English text by Bari Biern
Co-production with Catapult Opera
Stage and Music Direction by Timothy Nelson
Design by Josh Sticklin, Yannick Godts, Oana Botez
Featuring Daniel Moody, Dawna Rae Warren, Greg Sliskovich, Andrew Adelsberger, Hailey Abramowitz
