Shining Brow

About the show

The opera follows Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney from their meeting in 1903, when Wright proposes a house for the Cheneys, through their affair and life together. Mamah’s time in Berlin reveals her doubts about the unequal partnership. In 1914, Wright pursues another woman while Mamah watches. Edwin Cheney later tells Wright that Mamah has been murdered and Taliesin burned. At the ruins, Wright finds a letter in Mamah’s coat and vows to rebuild the house in her memory.