Christ Church Cathedral Friday 28th to Sunday 30th October 8pm as part of the Imagine Festival.
Two sisters, each one a goddess, love the same mortal boy. He chooses one, but she soon tires of him, and has him murdered ….
Imagine Arts Festival is proud to present the premiere of a new opera by composer Eric Sweeney and poet Mark Roper. The Green One will be performed in the highly atmospheric setting of Christchurch Cathedral for 3 nights only. It will be a semi-staged production, featuring a cast of richly talented singers, with the 2 lead female roles taken by Latana Phoung and Norah King, who starred in Eric and Mark’s previous opera, The Invader. It promises to be a magical occasion.
The Green One is a re-telling of the ancient Middle Eastern myth of Ishtar, Goddess of the Earth, and her sister Allatu, Goddess of the Underworld – a story which underlies the Christian story of the Easter Resurrection.
Ishtar, after having the mortal boy Tammuz murdered, descends to the Underworld to try to bring him back. To pass through its seven gates, she must shed seven garments. Once there, she pleads with her sister for the return of Tammuz. At last she succeeds, but only on the condition that he will return to the Underworld for 6 months every year ….
The opera highlights the fragility of human hope, forever at the mercy of the capricious and irreconcilable forces of life and death. Tammuz, the mortal boy, seems to be the helpless victim of these forces. But it is Tammuz who finds the compromise between them, which we have learnt to express as the cycle of the seasons. And it is Tammuz, at the last, who prays:O Sister Breath, O Sister Death,O let me love you both.
The Green One follows the previous collaboration of Eric Sweeney & Mark Roper on The Invader, which was premiered in 2014. The Invader was highly praised in all national media and won a number of awards, including Outstanding Performance of the Year in the Waterford News and Star as well as awards for Best Musical Director, Best Choreographer and Best Opera Director.
Tickets available online at www.imagineartsfestival.com or 076110 2856
Tickets €15 (conc.€12)
Time: 8:00 pm
3 nights Only – Friday 28th, Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th October
Christ Church Cathedral Waterford
This Project is supported by a Waterford City & County Council Arts Grant & the Imagine Festival