Breaking the Waves
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John Moore and Kiera Duffy in Breaking the Waves. Photo by Dominic M. Mercier, courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.
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The Opera Philadelphia Chorus in Breaking the Waves. Photo by Nicholas Korkos, courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.
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Kiera Duffy as Bess in Breaking the Waves. Photo by Dominic M. Mercier, courtesy of Opera Philadelphia.
Opera Philadelphia presents Breaking the Waves, a new chamber opera by composer-in-residence Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek. Inspired by the 1996 film by Danish auteur Lars von Trier, the opera tells the complex, harrowing tale of Bess, a naive newlywed who has chosen to marry outside of her strict Calvinist community in coastal Scotland. The opera features a raw and sparse sound, portraying a dichotomy of dark and light through music and voice, performed by a cast of eight featured singers, a chorus, and a 15-piece chamber ensemble drawn from the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra.
This production includes explicit language and sexual content.