Photo Flash: Sneak Peek - Morningside Opera and SIREN Baroque Bring PERGOLESI POWER GAMES to NYC Tonight

Morningside Opera, the NYC-based opera company that most recently presented the acclaimed Here Be Sirens and ¡Figaro! (90210), teams up with all-female orchestral ensemble SIREN Baroque to present, PERGOLESI POWER GAMES, a double-feature of two masterpieces by baroque composer Giambattista Pergolesi at the Alchemical Theater Laboratory (104 West 14th Street - between 6th and 7th Avenues, for two performances only - tonight, January 16th and Saturday, January 17th at 7:30 PM. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the production!

PERGOLESI POWER GAMES reunites the original cast of Stabat mater (first developed by Morningside Opera in 2012) and expands the evening to include a period chamber ensemble from SIREN Baroque. This return engagement is paired with a new production of Pergolesi's La serva padrona. Together, the two halves of PERGOLESI POWER GAMES turn this famous music inside out, revealing a whole new world of meaning in these classic works.

Stabat mater (1736): back by popular demand! This lushly choreographed re-imagining of Pergolesi's iconic sacred oratorio explores the work's fetishization of female suffering. Promoting a fuller awareness of the power politics of beauty in our culture, this piece asks us to consider how women's pain is intrinsic to our understanding of beauty. This piece is choreographed by baroque dance specialist Laura Careless and features Morningside Opera company members Brett Umlauf and Amber Youell.

La serva padrona (1733): a comic tale of the crafty maidservant Serpina who tricks her employer Uberto into marrying her, this popular intermezzo reworks themes of gender and power in a darkly funny key. While often presented as a light comedy, this production brings out the more serious underbelly of the story by delving into the modern world of BDSM culture. Recasting Serpina as a professional dominatrix, this work examines the complex dynamic of paying someone to order you around - who is really in control? Directed by Morningside Opera artistic director Annie Holt, La serva padrona features company members Brittany Palmer and Michael Shaw.

Both pieces will feature a period chamber ensemble composed of a string quartet and harpsichord. Music director Kelly Savage will lead from the keyboard. Currently a faculty member at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Stanford University, Savage is artistic director of SIREN Baroque, and a founding member of Opera Feroce. She performs frequently on harpsichord, and was praised by the New York Times for her "deft accompaniment" in the pasticcio opera Amor & Psyche.

Tickets are $20 advance/$25 at the door, and can be purchased by visiting https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/941647 or calling 866-811-4111.

Photo Credit: Noah Arjomad

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