Taking Up Serpents (2019/2020)
Libretto by Jerre Dye
75-minute chamber opera in one act
6 singers/ fl/ ob/ cl/ bn/ perc/ gt/ pno/ 2vn/ vl/ vc/ cb
NOTES
25-year-old Kayla is the estranged daughter of a fire-and-brimstone preacher who is dangerously bitten by one of his own snakes. Kayla's journey home forces her to confront her troubled upbringing.
MEDIA
HISTORY
First performance:
Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center
Other performances:
Rice University
Upcoming performances:
Chicago Opera Theater, OnSite Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival
PRESS
“…through Ms. Sankaram’s skillful, passionate vocal writing… [the] music deftly limns Kayla’s limbo state... It also ingeniously depicts her environment with choral writing inspired by the raw contours of shape-note singing…”
“Her intriguing, offbeat handling of the instruments in the pit, including whirly tubes creating a synthetic hum, was the strongest thing about her piece…The opera begins with a beautiful musical evocation of moths under a parking-lot light, drawn in little figures from the flute.”