Opera Annex

BLO’s Opera Annex is a fully staged production designed for an alternative space outside the traditional opera theater. It is separate from the mainstage season. The Opera Annex program was introduced in BLO’s 2009-2010 Season and quickly sold out!

The Emperor of Atlantis or Death Quits

With a prologue by Richard Beaudoin—a special BLO commission and world premiere


February 1, 2, 4, 5, 6m, 2011
At The Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, Boston

Music by Viktor Ullmann | Libretto by poet Petr Kien | Sung in English
BLO premiere and new BLO production

Read about the artists
See our recommended recordings

Conductor STEVEN LIPSITT*
Stage Director   DAVID SCHWEIZER*
Set Designer   CALEB WERTENBAKER*
Costume Designer   NANCY LEARY
Lighting Designer   CHRISTOPHER AKERLIND
Sound Designer   DAVID REMEDIOS*
     
Emperor Overall   ANDREW WILKOWSKE*
Death/Loudspeaker   KEVIN BURDETTE*
Harlequin   JOHN MAC MASTER*
Bubikopf   KATHRYN SKEMP
Drummer   JAMIE VAN EYCK*
A Soldier   JULIUS AHN

Chamber Ensemble from the Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra

*BLO debut

 

Tosca

“Look, the world is full of light and colors.”

An emperor unleashes total war. He orders destruction. He orders death. But Death…Well, Death doesn’t take orders. Now what? In 1943, composer Viktor Ullmann and poet Petr Kien were prisoners in the concentration camp Terezin, where they created this almost inconceivably wry and touching opera. They died at Auschwitz. Their opera survives—an allusive, haunting, texturally rich testament to their spirit.