ABOUT THE RESIDENCY
Enheduanna is a trans-disciplinary opera that unearths the life of Enheduanna (Ur 2300 BCE), a Sumerian priestess and the first named poet in history, whose powerful hymns offer a rare glimpse of the female voice in an otherwise male dominated ancient world. Exploring timeless themes—exile, social upheaval, the power of storytelling, gender fluidity, the ravages of war, and the untamable forces of nature, Enheduanna is transposed into a modern unnamed landscape where young women are rising against the state of the world. The staging is crafted in three circles: the audience are the outer circle, the musicians are in a circle within the audience, and at the heart of it all stand the three singers. This arrangement invites the audience to experience a blending of time, history, and space, where everything converges into a fleeting moment. The score is conceived for an ensemble of free jazz and baroque musicians, navigating in between through-composed sections and open-ended structures that provide performers with opportunities for spontaneous expression within a pre-defined framework. Enheduanna takes protagonists and audience alike through an experiment in utopia—a re-imagination of a world anew. Rooted in the ancient yet pressing narratives of collapse and rebirth, the past and present intertwine to forge collective futures, and to elevate all from the shadows of the old world. This elevation signifies a transformative act, an invocation for the creation of a new reality. It unfolds as a communal journey, challenging and inspiring us to envision and inhabit a world reborn.
CREATIVE TEAM
Layale Chaker—Music Composition
Lisenka Heijoer Castanon—Stage Direction
Helga Davis—Voice
Aaron Edgecomb—Percussion
Philip Golub—Piano
Teryn Kuzma—Voice
Sharmay Musacchio—Voice
Lisa Schlesinger—Libretto
Jen Shyu—Voice
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Layale Chaker, a composer and violinist, was raised on the verge of multiple musical streams in her native Lebanon. Her complex sound universe, described by NPR as “beguiling” with “bright and beautiful strands…gorgeous, wine-dark swirls,” lies at the intersection of classical contemporary music, jazz, Arabic music, and improvisation. Her practice is committed to art as both sanctuary and crossroads—a place where ancestral narratives meet contemporary voices in a continuous reimagination of the world we inherit, live in and bequeath. A 2020–2022 Jerome Hill Fellow, Chaker is also recipient of the 2022 Opera America Discovery Award, among many other accolades.
In 2024, her work Qarar/Jawab premiered at the Venice Biennale and Dawning, a double concerto, premiered with the New York Philharmonic. Her debut chamber opera, Ruinous Gods, premiered at the 2024 Spoleto Festival before its European debut at Wuppertal Opera. She also recently released a double portrait album on In a Circle Records, featuring both her classical works and chamber jazz quintet, Sarafand.
“Haunting yet quietly rigorous…” —The New York Times