HILDEGARD

Set in 1147, HILDEGARD follows German Benedictine abbess/polymath/composer St. Hildegard von Bingen as she receives visions from God. At grave risk of excommunication, she sets out to document her visions, enlisting her fellow nun Richardis von Stade to illustrate the manuscript. As they develop a transformative partnership that awakens them in ways both profound and unexpected, the two women must confront the powers that would see them erased from history rather than making it. More broadly, HILDEGARD is about the desire for connection – to divinity, to humanity, and to our deepest sense of self – and the conflicts that compete therein.

 

This highly anticipated world premiere marks LA Opera's 17th innovative collaboration with the pioneering Beth Morrison Projects, hailed as “a driving force behind America’s thriving opera scene” (Financial Times). Based on the writings of visionary, composer, and polymath, HILDEGARD examines the tension between spiritual calling and human constraint. With a libretto by Sarah Kirkland Snider—who is praised by The Washington Post as one of the “Top 35 Female Composers in Classical Music”—and immersive visual projection design by Deborah Johnson, captures the struggle of two gifted women determined to make their voices heard in a world that sought their silence.

Sarah Kirkland Snider, COMPOSER AND LIBRETTIST

Elkhanah Pulitzer, DIRECTOR

Gabriel Crouch, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Beth Morrison, CREATIVE PRODUCER

Deborah Johnson, ARTWORK & PROJECTION DESIGNER

Marsha Ginsberg, SCENIC DESIGNER

Molly Irelan, COSTUME DESIGNER

Pablo Santiago, LIGHTING DESIGNER

Drew Sensue-Weinstein, SOUND DESIGNER

Annie Jin Wang, DRAMATURG

Movement by Laurel Jenkins

HILDEGARD VON BINGEN - Nola Richardson

RICHARDIS VON STADE R - Mikaela Bennett

ABBOT CUNO - David Adam Moore

VOLMAR - Roy Hage

CLEMENTIA/MARGRAVINE VON STADE/ANGEL 2 - Blythe Gaissert

GERTA/ANGEL 1 - Raha Mirzadegan

MECHTILD - Patrick Bessenbacher

OTTO - Paul Chwe MinChul An  

FACELESS WOMAN - Chloe Engel

Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects. Commissioned in part by the Aspen Music Festival and School and OPERA America Grants for Female Composers award funded by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The production of Hildegard received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Fund, New York State Council on the Arts, New Music USA, the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, William Kennedy, Betsy Greenberg and Pamela Drexel. Developed and produced by Beth Morrison Projects.

Developed with Lyric Theater @ University of Illinois, Princeton University, and Mannes School of Music.