John Adams The Gospel According to the Other Mary

Lucerne Festival
Lucerne
Switzerland
http://e.lucernefestival.ch


Los Angeles Philharmonic | Los Angeles Master Chorale (Grant Gershon music director) | Gustavo Dudamel conductor | Peter Sellars director | Kelly O'Connor Mary Magdalene | Tamara Mumford Martha | Russell Thomas Lazarus | Daniel Bubeck Narrator | Brian Cummings Narrator | Nathan Medley Narrator | Michael Schumacher dancer | Anani Sanouvi dancer | Mark Grey sound designer | James Ingalls lighting designer | Dunya Ramicova costume designer

With Nixon in China, composer John Adams and director Peter Sellars created the most successful American opera since Porgy and Bess, while their El Niño juxtaposed biblical texts with apocryphal scriptures, a medieval mystery play, and Latin American poetry to fashion a “nativity oratorio for the 21st century.” Now comes their latest collaboration: The Gospel According to the Other Mary, an oratorio which is being premiered in its fully staged version in March 2013 in Los Angeles with conductor Gustavo Dudamel – just two weeks before this performance in Lucerne. Adams and Sellars recount the biblical Passion from an unusual perspective. Beginning with the raising of Lazarus, these events are narrated by the risen Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary Magdalene, who directly experience the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus – all framed in the “eternal present.” Adam’s ambitious score combines his powerful rhythmic sense with a complex harmonic language, haunting melody, and innovative choral and orchestral writing.


John Adams : The Gospel According to the Other Mary