Walter Braxton's New Opera TO DAMASCUS Runs at Firehouse Theatre This Winter

Firehouse Theatre presents the world premiere of Richmond composer Walter Braxton's opera TO DAMASCUS. The opera production begins a limited run of seven performances at Firehouse on Thursday, January 18, 2018.

TO DAMASCUS builds on a range of sources including the bible story of Paul's conversion, August Strindberg's THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS, the rivalry between Lorenzo de' Medici's patronage of secular art versus Girolamo Savanarola's bonfire of the vanities and his call for an orthodox religious revival, Thomas Mann's only play FIORENZO, the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Ezra Pound, and the Catholic Mass.

Braxton weaves these sources in to his libretto and has composed a lush score that will be performed by an orchestra of 15 musicians and five singers. The opera examines the rituals we practice to reconcile the sacred and the profane and ease the noise between our angels and demons.

In Firehouse's Season of Possibilities we're rejecting traditional ideas and embedded conventions of historicized Opera so we can make an anti-opera for the 21st century.

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IF YOU GO:

TO DAMASCUS

Performers:
Michelle Baez
Elizabeth Dowdy
Michael David Gray
Chase Peak
Imani Thaniel

Production Team:
Director - Joel Bassin
Musical Directors - Leilani Fenick + Michael Knowles
Environment Designers - Vinnie Gonzalez + Isabel Layton
Lighting Designer - Bill Miller
Consulting Artists - Matthew Allar + Kathleen O'Connor
Stage Manager - Corrie Yarbrough

Performance Schedule:
Thu, 1/18 - 7:30pm (preview)
Fri, 1/19 - 7:30pm (press opening)
Sat, 1/20 - 7:30pm
Sun, 1/21 - 4pm
Thu, 1/25 - 7:30pm
Fri, 1/26 - 7:30pm
Sat, 1/27 - 7:30pm

Tickets $15 - $40
804.355.2001 / firehousetheatre.org

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