Despite being in development for over 8.5 years now, we haven’t been able to share any of the SOUND of the “Kutulagaaw”opera with you. Ed and Rory have done such brilliant musical work for years now, and it is now paired with our “final” gorgeous vocals.
So here’s the ultimate sneak peek before our Friday opening! Exciting little excerpts from two different “Kutulagaaw” opera scenes, sung by four of our principal vocalists at the Sealaska Heritage Institute this last Friday.
“Women Know” is sung by Kira Apaachuaq Eckenweiler from Unalakleet and Madeline Soboleff Levy, who is Tlingit, Haida and Norwegian from Juneau. Madeline performs the role of Tíx’ – a translator between the Tlingit and Russians, and the character whose viewpoint we follow during the opera. Kira plays Haadaadóoshi, a respected village leader.
I don’t want to share too much about the scene because #spoilers, but it is about women knowing the high cost of war. “We build and grow and feed the people, and the newcomers come to hurt and steal them away. Women know this anger.”
“Russian Return” is sung by Valentine Washington from the Lummi tribe in Washington state and Bo Shimmin from the Pueblo of Acoma. They perform as Kayaani and Xaldleit, respected clan/house leaders for the opera, and in this excerpt are warning the community that the Russians they drove away two years ago have come back. “Hurry yourselves, Lingít men! Hurry yourselves, Lingít women! The war we have prepared for is coming this way.”
I will probably point this out several times over the next few weeks, but as the opera is sung entirely in Lingít, the 20+ cast members have been put to WERK learning to sing and speak in Lingít. And it is a humbling experience to see where all that effort has brought them just a month or two later.
They are accompanied by Nacho Ojeda – our rehearsal pianist from Sevilla, Spain. Who also, by the way, learned all this Lingít as vocal coach. All composition is by Ed Littlefield, with orchestrations by Rory Stitt. I wrote the libretto (the script/story) and the Lingít translations are by X’unei Lance Twitchell. “Kutulagaaw: The Tlingit-Russian Battles” is a co-production of Sealaska Heritage Institute and Perseverance Theatre.
Aaaannnddd there’s so much more I want to say, so I’ll be sharing quite a bit in the lead up to our SOLD OUT premiere on Friday (including some behind-the-scenes videos and cast intros) over the next two weeks. We only have five shows with tickets available now, and many of those shows are nearing sell out as well.