Arnold Schönberg's Erwartung - A Performance by Robin Rhode

Arnold Schönberg's Erwartung - A Performance by Robin Rhode

 

Robin Rhode imagines Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg's Erwartung (Expectation) in Arnold Schönberg's Erwartung - A Performance by Robin Rhode. In partnership with Performa15. Composed in 1909, Erwartung takes the unusual form of a one-act monodrama for a solo soprano, accompanied by a large orchestra. For Rhode, this atonal opera about love, loss, and lamentation, recalled the many hardships experienced by women in South Africa during and after the fall of Apartheid. Originally set in the moonlit, wilderness of the forest, Rhodeâs reproduction of Arnold Schönberg's Erwartung - A Performance by Robin Rhode interprets Times Square itself to be a contemporary forest filled with light emanating from the electronic billboards instead of the moon. The performance takes place in a huge aria with just one soprano and non-speaking performer carrying out the opera, with the sights and sounds of Times Square acting as a Greek Chorus in the background.

 

Music by: Arnold Schönberg

Libretto by: Marie Pappenheim

Artistic Director: Robin Rhode

Orchestral Conductor: Arturo Tamayo

Soprano: Carole Sidney Louis

Male Character: Moses Leo

Orchestra: WetInk Ensemble

Executive Producer: Raphael Oeschger

Associate Producers: Performa and Rhodeworks GMBH

 

Photo Credit: Ka-Man Tse for @TSqArts

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