The Way the Sky Looks
premiering April 18th, 2025
…a chamber opera with a libretto by Hannah Nikka Odsinada.
Legazpi, Philippines: an empty house in the country. The dark before sunrise. A woman on a lawn chair, dressed in black. A bouquet of roses. From the brush, a deer approaches. A short chamber opera exploring loss, perspective, and countless lives lived beneath a single sky.
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Premiering:
Friday, April 18th, 2025 — 8 - 10 pm (EST)
Paulson Center NYU, Suite 620
free admission with reservation
Orchestration:
flute, clarinet, horn, percussion, piano, and string quartet
Characters:
Daughter, Mezzo-Soprano, a human: young, Filipino-American. Drained by the sting of grief.
Deer, Soprano, a deer: aging, twig-like, with a spotted brown coat. Alert, curious.
Location:
The front yard of a large house on the rural edge of Legazpi, a city in Albay, Philippines.
Time:
In recent memory / long enough ago to be a dream / recent enough to sting
Content Note:
This piece engages with familial trauma in the aftermath of a death in the family. With that in mind, the intended focus is meant to be on the healing that follows.
Production Notes:
We welcome all potential ways of physically characterizing Deer as a deer, including but not limited to the use of masks, costumes, puppetry, lighting, dance, etc.
The librettist requests that singers of Southeast Asian descent perform the role of Daughter; a connection to the Philippines is preferred but not required.
