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Hannah Lash's Beowulf Debuts with Guerilla Opera

May. 05, 2016

Hannah Lash's <em>Beowulf</em> Debuts with Guerilla Opera

The well-known epic poem Beowulf gets a renewed treatment in Hannah Lash’s chamber opera adaptation of the same name, premiering with Boston’s Guerilla Opera on May 20.

Scored for three singers and an ensemble of clarinet, saxophone, percussion and violin, Lash’s Beowulf explores the psychological stresses placed upon someone whose role it is to save lives and take care of others. In her adaptation, Beowulf is a doctor caring for his elderly mother while suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by a recent war. He discovers that his mother is being abused by the nursing home staff and removes her, determined to care for her himself, though she begs him to help end her life. 

Andrew Eggert directs the production, with costumes by Neil Fortin and stage design by Julia Noulin-Merat. Performances take place May 20 through 28 at the Boston Conservatory’s Zack Box Theater. 

On May 19, conductor William Boughton and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra present the second installment of their “Lash/Voynich Project” with the premiere of Movement 2 “Astronomical” from Lash’s The Voynich Symphony. The NHSO premieres the work’s four movements over the course of the coming two seasons, each of which addresses a different aspect of the mysterious Voynich manuscripts: Herbal, Astronomical, Biological, and Cosmological.

Rounding out the month is the premiere of a new solo piano work, Give Me Your Songs, on May 20 with pianist Nadia Shpachenko. The performance takes place at the Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena, CA.

Further details on the performances can be found at guerillaopera.com, newhavensymphony.org, and bostoncourt.com.

For more information on Hannah Lash, visit schott-music.com.

Hannah Lash
Beowulf (2015)
a chamber opera in two acts
libretto (Eng) by Hannah Lash
for baritone, soprano, tenor and ensemble
cl(bcl).sax(barsax)-perc-vn
70’ 

The Voynich Symphony (2015)
for orchestra
2(2.pic).2.2.2-4.2.2.1-timp.2perc-hp-str
40’ 

Give Me Your Songs (2016)
for solo piano
7’ 

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