"ABSORBING, MEDITATIVE, HYPNOTIC...IN FRONT OF A FULL HOUSE ...BEAUTIFULLY PERFORMED AND SENSITIVELY PLAYED"
- LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
BOOK OF LONGING
PAST (AUGUST 2022)
BOOK OF LONGING
BY PHILIP GLASS & LEONARD COHEN
PRESENTED BY AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY OPERA CO AND THE WHEELER CENTRE
SUPPORTED BY FED SQUARE
A multi-dimensional performance combining poetry, music, images and text in a complex and intoxicating meeting of two musical icons: Leonard Cohen and Philip Glass.
Composed by Philip Glass and adapted from Cohen’s 2006 poetry collection Book of Longing, this genre-defying work starred Richard Piper (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) and featured four soloists, soloist ensemble, eight instrumentalists and live graphic imagery. Described as "part-song-cycle, part cabaret, part-installation" Book of Longing is a work that explores romance, biography, balladry, the dharma, limericks and rhymes.
Sold Out at Fed Square: "an audacious, magnetic and convention-busting performance".
Conducted by
CARLO ANTONIOLI
MSO Cybec Assistant Conductor 2022
Directed by
LINDA THOMPSON
with
RICHARD PIPER as the voice of Leonard Cohen
EMILY BURKE, soprano
DIMITY SHEPHERD, mezzo soprano
MARTIN BUCKINGHAM, tenor
CHRISTOPHER TONKIN, baritone
with
Caitlin Toohey, soprano*
Genevieve Droppert, mezzo soprano*
Alexandra Amerides, contralto*
Callum Warrener, tenor*
Daniel Felton, baritone*
*ACOCo Young Artist
Visuals by
ALICE EDY
Presented in partnership with
The Wheeler Centre
and
Fed Square
