Feb 20 2020 19 mins 1
We saw the world premiere of
Jacqueline, an opera
about the tragic life of Jacqueline du
Pré. Du Pré was a phenomenal
cellist (see her perform the Elgar Cello
Concerto with her husband, Daniel
Barenboim, conducting) who, at the age of 28, was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis and lost her ability to perform. She passed away in 1987 at the age
of 42.
The opera is unusually intimate, performed by just two people—a soprano
(Marnie Breckenridge, who was on a recent
episode of This Is Your Mixtape) and a
cellist (Matt Haimovitz, who
knew du Pré when he was young). It was composed by Luna Pearl
Woolf with libretto by Royce
Vavrek and produced by Tapestry
Opera (who also produced last year’s excellent
Shawnadithit).
Chris and
Michael gushed about the opera immediately
after seeing it.
