Telaio: Desdemona

Featuring:

Maggie Sczekan, soprano

Bryant Denmark, conductor & violin

Francis Lien, piano

Reed Puleo, percussion

Mia Butler, harp

Cesar Reyes Ceniceros, violin

Kate Kaczmarek, violin

Elidi Clark, viola

Bethany Hovermale

From composer Susan Botti's program notes

Telaio: Desdemona is an operatic soliloquy - a character study of Shakespeare's Desdemona from Othello, the tragic story of jealousy and betrayal. Set in Venice and on the island of Cyprus, the play depicts the intense love between Othello and Desdemona, their subsequent elopement, and finally the unraveling of their love through the manipulations of Othello's standard-bearer, Iago. Unable to tolerate Iago's insinuations about Desdemona's fidelity, Othello strangles his wife despite her protestations of innocence.

The soloist performs two "roles": the narrator and "Desdemona." The narrator, in recitatives, describes Desdemona through a collage of texts from Othello which are second-hand descriptions of her personality, words, and/or actions (originally spoken by other characters in the play). In arias, the character of Desdemona speaks through the poetry of an Italian Renaissance woman, Gaspara Stampa, and in traditional Italian folksong.

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Host or Publisher Rose Chamber Opera