Conductors Institute
The Song of Eddie
July 2, 2004
Conductors Institute
July 2, 2004
Five performances:
Friday, July 2, 7:30 pm
Saturday, July 3, 7:30 pm
Wednesday, July 7, 7:30 pm
Friday, July 9, 7:30 pm
Saturday, July 10, 7:30 pm
An Opera in Two Acts
Music by Harold Farberman
Libretto by Andrew Joffe
Directed by Beth Greenberg
Lynn Sharp Spears, set designer
Farley Whitfield, lighting designer
In this wholly original new opera, Harold Farberman and Andrew Joffe explore the human dynamics of power and our need to connect with something greater than ourselves—a need so strong that it can blind us even to madness and evil. The Song of Eddie tells the story of a group of disparate people whose fates become entwined with a charismatic messiah figure. In a stark, deserted place, the cult of Eddie gathers. Promising to bear all burdens and to fulfill all desires, Eddie predicts that a great storm will engulf and destroy the world, and gives his followers garments that he says will protect them from the ensuing slaughter.
Jenny, one of Eddie’s followers, is torn between her belief in Eddie and her love for Josh, a nonbeliever who sees Eddie for the charlatan that he is. An inevitable battle erupts between Josh, the voice of reason, and Eddie, whose ability to weave truth, fear, and desire into a powerful tool of seduction bears an unsettling resemblance to the cult leaders and demagogues who have become all too familiar in the contemporary world.
Tickets: $35