FULL LADY M(acbeth) New York 2023 Lisa Algozzini, Kenneth Stavert, Isaiah Musik-Ayala, Samarie Alicea
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Lady M or Macbeth
- Composer: Verdi Giuseppe, Arranged by Daniel Schlosberg
- Libretto: Francesco Maria Piave, Andrea Maffei, based on William Shakespeare's play, Adapted by Ethan Heard and Jacob Ashworth Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Nagelberg Theater, Baruch Performing Arts Center, New York, Heartbeat Opera
- Recorded: April 2023
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Lisa Algozzini, Kenneth Stavert, Isaiah Musik-Ayala, Samarie Alicea, Taylor-Alexis Dupont, Sishel Claverie
- Conductor: Daniel Schlosberg
- Orchestra: Instrumental Ensemble
- Stage Director: Emma Jaster
- Stage Designer: Afsoon Pajoufar
- Costume Designer: Beth Goldenberg
- Lighting Designer: Oliver Wason
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Heartbeat Opera
- Format: DVD
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Through the eyes of opera’s most thrilling anti-heroine, Lady M is a nightmare-fantasia of Verdi’s Macbeth, featuring six singers, including a trio of soloists as the shapeshifting Weird Sisters, six instrumentalists, and electronic sound design. Stripping away the clichés that have accumulated around Lady Macbeth and her story, this version explores ambition, gender, and violence through a contemporary American lens. In response to COVID-19, Heartbeat Opera takes its LADY M rehearsals and performances online. Rather than cancel our production, we are launching a 10-day Remote Residency with our artists, followed by a series of private Virtual Soirées with our audience.
“I have given suck, and know how tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me.”
Two lines of Shakespeare reveal the grief buried in Lady Macbeth’s past. Isolated from both the male world of power and the female sphere of motherhood, she spirals toward violence. Heartbeat weaves fragments of Shakespeare’s text and a new electronics-infused orchestration into a distinctly American adaptation of Verdi’s Macbeth that centers Lady M and recasts Verdi’s chorus of witches as a trio of virtuosic soloists. Oblivious to the witches who toil constantly at the borders of her privileged life, Lady M chases the ascent that will destroy her marriage, her sleep, and her sanity.
Longtime Heartbeat artist Emma Jaster takes the reins to direct her bold vision of Ethan Heard and Jacob Ashworth’s original adaptation, featuring a tight ensemble cast of six singers and six players. Daniel Schlosberg’s arrangement explodes the haunting world of Verdi’s score with electronics, live processing, and a complete sonic reimagining of the witches’ voices.