A 65-minute chamber opera for five voices, string quartet, percussion and custom-built sound sculptures, Sophia's Forest follows the story of a nine-year old girl named Sophia, a new immigrant to the United States, who uses her imagination to deal with the traumatic experience of escaping a civil war in her native country. Forming an integral part of the opera’s set is a series of nine tree-like sound-producing sculptures, an evocation of Sophia’s inner thoughts and memories. With music by former Opera Philadelphia composer-in-residence Lembit Beecher, and libretto by Hannah Moscovitch, this experimental collaboration between the worlds of opera and technology was developed in conjunction with Drexel University’s ExCITe Center along with architect Simon Kim and engineer Mark Yim of the University of Pennsylvania, and director Brian Staufenbiel. Conducted by Nicole Paiement and featuring the Aizuri Quartet and soprano Kiera Duffy, whose starring performance in Opera Philadelphia’s Breaking The Waves last year drew rave reviews, these performances will be the world premiere of Sophia's Forest. For more information as well as images and videos from the development of the piece, please click here.
Major support for Sophia’s Forest has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
