1984
Based on George Orwell’s dystopian novel, the opera includes roles for Winston, Julia, O’Brien, Syme, Parsons, and Charrington, as well as chorus sequences for the Two Minutes Hate rallies and Oceania’s national anthem.
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Based on George Orwell’s dystopian novel, the opera includes roles for Winston, Julia, O’Brien, Syme, Parsons, and Charrington, as well as chorus sequences for the Two Minutes Hate rallies and Oceania’s national anthem.
Interrogated about the death of her employer, wealthy widow Vera Donovan, Dolores recounts her life. Flashbacks reveal that her abusive husband Joe also molested their daughter Selena. During a solar eclipse, Vera urges Dolores to solve her problem. Dolores provokes Joe, who chases her into the woods and falls into a well she has concealed; she covers it, leaving him to die. In the present, adult Selena tells police that Dolores could not have killed Vera, who had become close to her. Vera left her estate to Dolores. Selena later learns Vera died by suicide, falling down stairs when Dolores was not looking. Selena leaves, still not having forgiven her mother for killing Joe.
At fourteen, Emmeline is sent to work in a Lowell textile mill. The married factory supervisor, Mr. Maguire, seduces her; when she becomes pregnant, her aunt Hannah arranges for a couple to adopt the baby and hides its sex from Emmeline. Twenty years later Emmeline, still unmarried, falls in love with younger boarder Matthew Gurney and accepts his marriage proposal. At her mother’s funeral, Hannah recognizes Matthew as Emmeline’s son and reveals the truth. Matthew runs away; Emmeline remains in town, waiting for her child.
Ned Rorem and J. D. McClatchy’s three-act opera adapts Thornton Wilder’s play and follows a community through birth, maturity, and death.
Based on George Orwell’s dystopian novel, the opera includes roles for Winston, Julia, O’Brien, Syme, Parsons, and Charrington, as well as chorus sequences for the Two Minutes Hate rallies and Oceania’s national anthem.
Interrogated about the death of her employer, wealthy widow Vera Donovan, Dolores recounts her life. Flashbacks reveal that her abusive husband Joe also molested their daughter Selena. During a solar eclipse, Vera urges Dolores to solve her problem. Dolores provokes Joe, who chases her into the woods and falls into a well she has concealed; she covers it, leaving him to die. In the present, adult Selena tells police that Dolores could not have killed Vera, who had become close to her. Vera left her estate to Dolores. Selena later learns Vera died by suicide, falling down stairs when Dolores was not looking. Selena leaves, still not having forgiven her mother for killing Joe.
At fourteen, Emmeline is sent to work in a Lowell textile mill. The married factory supervisor, Mr. Maguire, seduces her; when she becomes pregnant, her aunt Hannah arranges for a couple to adopt the baby and hides its sex from Emmeline. Twenty years later Emmeline, still unmarried, falls in love with younger boarder Matthew Gurney and accepts his marriage proposal. At her mother’s funeral, Hannah recognizes Matthew as Emmeline’s son and reveals the truth. Matthew runs away; Emmeline remains in town, waiting for her child.
Ned Rorem and J. D. McClatchy’s three-act opera adapts Thornton Wilder’s play and follows a community through birth, maturity, and death.