Interview: Playwright Sarah Ruhl Talks Bringing Vivaldi & Ruhl's THE SEASONS to Boston Lyric Opera

Growing up outside Chicago, Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Sarah Ruhl (“The Clean House,” “In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)”) would listen to a cassette of Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” on holiday drives with her family to her father’s home state of Iowa.

Ruhl says it would be snowing heavily and she was usually in the backseat listening to Vivaldi’s “Winter” concerto as a blizzard raged outside. That early exposure to the music of the 17th-century composer left a lasting impression on the MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship recipient who has written the libretto for a new opera, “The Seasons,” using Vivaldi’s score, co-conceived with and starring world-renowned countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. The opera is being given its world premiere by Boston Lyric Opera  (BLO) in a co-production with AMOC* and SCENE, co-presented with ArtsEmerson, March 12–16, at the Emerson Paramount Center.

The production will be directed by Boston-born Zack Winokur, conducted by Boston Early Music Festival artistic director Stephen Stubbs, and choreographed by dance maker Pam Tanowitz.

Joining the Grammy Award-winning Costanzo, in his BLO debut, in the cast are Brandon Cedel (BLO’s 2023 “La Cenerentola”), Ashley Emerson (2024’s “The Anonymous Lover”), Kangmin Justin Kim and Whitney Morrison, both making their BLO debuts, and Alexis Peart (BLO Emerging Artist alum, 2024’s “Mitridate”).

By telephone recently from the BLO Opera + Community Studios at Fort Point, Ruhl – whose 2003 play “Eurydice” was adapted into an opera by composer Matthew Aucoin, presented by the BLO at this time last year – spoke about “The Seasons” and more.

How did you come together with Anthony Roth Costanzo to co-conceive “The Seasons”?

Anthony reached out to me because he was interested in doing this baroque pastiche. He did a workshop of “Eurydice” years ago and I have adored him since then. Anthony is a countertenor so baroque pieces are well suited to him. Anthony not only has an angelic voice, but he is also a genius and a true three-dimensional person of opera – a singer, creator, and producer. When we were first developing this opera, we worked at his beautiful loft apartment in New York. We had an accompanist and what felt like a floating harpsichord. The whole experience was just dreamy.

What are your thoughts on Vivaldi’s music?

I love baroque music. It just makes profound sense to me. It always has, really, from the time I was a child listening to “The Four Seasons.”

Is it true that the very first play you ever wrote has inspired this work?

Yes, my very first play was a courtroom drama, which I wrote in fourth grade. It concerned land masses, and the continents would talk to each other. It feels full circle now – putting music, haiku poetry and dance together on an epic scale to talk about what’s going on in the world today. When we were workshopping this in New York, our conductor, who is from Los Angeles, was worried about the wildfires and their potential impact on his farm and his animals. Fortunately, the farm was spared and the animals got out safely.

Tell me about your libretto for “The Seasons”?

It’s about a group of five contemporary artists who go on an artist retreat to reconnect with nature and hone their crafts. The harmony they seek is disrupted as the seasons get more extreme because of weather events that reshape their lives and their work. The narrative serves as a meditation on the interplay between current climate realities, Vivaldi’s celebration of the natural world through music, and the emotional weather we experience inside ourselves.

It’s gone now, but I had SPACE on Ryder Farm, a nonprofit residency program and organic farm located on an old homestead in Putnam, N.Y., in my head as I hunkered down during the pandemic to write.

I hear that set designer Mimi Lien has created something fascinating for this piece. Can you tell me a little about it?

Working with MIT Media Lab Design and Materials Technologist Jack Forman, Mimi has created a carbon-neutral set out of soap that creates enormous amounts of bubbles. I didn’t have an image in my mind for this set, but I know I can trust Mimi, with her background as an architect, very much. She is endlessly creative and an outside-the-box thinker, as I learned when we worked together on “The Oldest Boy” at Lincoln Center, and “Eurydice” at the Wilma in Philadelphia.

What makes BLO a good place for you to work?

It is not a super hierarchal company, which is great. Indeed, BLO is really open to new kinds of collaborations with artists like Zack Winokur, who directs operas all around the world and is co-founder of AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), and Pam Tanowitz, who is making her choreographic opera debut, and who has previously had commissions from the Martha Graham and Paul Taylor dance companies, and the New York City Ballet.

What’s next for you?

I’m bringing “Eurydice” to Signature Theatre in New York in a production starring Maya Hawke (Netflix’s “Stranger Things”) that will run May 13 to June 22.

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