Awakenings (opera)

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Awakenings (opera) - Wikipedia

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Awakenings
Opera by Tobias Picker
Librettist	Aryeh Lev Stollman
Language	English
Based on	Oliver Sacks' Awakenings
Premiere	June 5, 2022 (2022-06-05) Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri

Awakenings is an opera in two acts composed by Tobias Picker, with a libretto by Aryeh Lev Stollman.^[1]^[2] Based on Awakenings, Oliver Sacks' 1960's chronicle of his efforts to help the victims of an encephalitis epidemic,^[3] the opera was commissioned by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and premiered on June 5, 2022.^[4]^[5]^[6] The East Coast premiere of Awakenings was performed by Odyssey Opera in partnership with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, conducted by Gil Rose and directed by James Robinson, on February 25, 2023, at the newly renovated Huntington Theater.^[7]^[8]

Roles

Role	Voice	Premier cast, 2022 Conductor: Roberto Kalb
Dr. Oliver Sacks	Baritone	Jarrett Porter^[9]
Dr. Podsnap	Bass	David Pittsinger
Mr. Rodriguez	Tenor	Andres Acosta
Rose	Soprano	Susanna Phillips
Miriam	Mezzo-Soprano	Adrienne Danrich
Leonard Lev	Tenor	Marc Molomot
Iris	Mezzo-Soprano	Katharine Goeldner
Ruth	Soprano	Rachel Blaustein
Dr. Samuel Sacks	Bass Baritone	Keith Klein
Dr. Muriel Else Landau	Contralto	Elissa Pfaender
Ms. Kohl	Soprano	Angel Azzarra
Frank	Tenor	Jared Esguerra
Lucy	Mezzo-Soprano	Daniela Magura

Development

Picker originally met Oliver Sacks at a dinner party.^[10] Picker, whose Tourette's syndrome went undiagnosed until he was in his thirties, was interested in Sacks's opinion of his symptoms.^[11]^[12] Soon becoming close friends, Picker and Sacks served as mutual inspirations for one another: Picker was interested in Sacks's intellect and compassion, while Sacks was fascinated by Picker's creativity, Tourette's, and musicianship.^[13] Picker would become one of the subjects of Sack’s book Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain:

Tobias Picker, the distinguished composer, also has Tourette’s. but when he is composing or playing the piano or conducting, his tics disappear. I have watched him as he sits almost motionless for hours, orchestrating one of his études for piano at his computer… Picker writes in every mode—the dreamy and tranquil no less than the violent and stormy—and moves from one mood to another with consummate ease.^[14]

In 2010, Picker composed a ballet, Awakenings, for the Rambert Dance Company, inspired by the book by Oliver Sacks.^[15]^[16] Later in the decade, Picker and his husband, the novelist and neurologist Aryeh Lev Stollman, began to develop an opera based upon Awakenings.^[17]

References

^ Cohn, Fred. "Re-Awakenings". Opera News. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
^ Fenske, Sarah. "Awakenings Opera Premiering In St. Louis Came From Couple's Mutual Inspiration". St. Louis Public Radio. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
^ MacCarthy, Fiona (5 December 1985), "Travels round a couch", The Times
^ "Awakenings". www.opera-stl.org. Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
^ "Awakenings". www.tobiaspicker.com. Tobias Picker. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
^ Durchholz, Daniel (Feb 4, 2022). "Opera Theatre of St. Louis names first principal conductor, extends other contracts". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
^ Orbey, Eren (February 20, 2023). "Oliver Sacks Gets An Opera". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
^ Madonna, A.Z. (February 27, 2023). "'Awakenings' is the stuff of dreams". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
^ Cohn, Fred. "Re-Awakenings". Opera News. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
^ Epstein, Robert. "Awakening to 25 Years of Change". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
^ Harries, Rhiannon. "How We Met: Oliver Sacks & Tobias Picker". The Independent. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
^ Goode, Erica (June 2, 2016). "Oliver Sacks Tribute Captures His Quirks and Insights". The New York Times. Retrieved May 1, 2022. 'He was very helpful to me because he could talk about it, talk about what he was observing, in a way that made me understand how I was being observed by the outside world,' Mr. Picker said.
^ Harries, Rhiannon. "How We Met: Oliver Sacks & Tobias Picker". The Independent. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
^ Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (2007) ISBN 978-1-4000-4081-0
^ "Awakenings: Rambert". Rambert. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
^ "Rambert Dance Company: The Making of Awakenings". The Ballet Bag. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
^ Fenske, Sarah. "Awakenings Opera Premiering In St. Louis Came From Couple's Mutual Inspiration". St. Louis Public Radio. Retrieved May 1, 2022.

External links

v t e Tobias Picker
Opera	Emmeline (1996) Fantastic Mr. Fox (1998) Thérèse Raquin (2001) An American Tragedy (2005) Dolores Claiborne (2013) Awakenings (2022) Lili Elbe (2023)
Orchestral	Old and Lost Rivers Keys To The City The Encantadas
List of compositions by Tobias Picker · Category:Compositions by Tobias Picker

v t e Oliver Sacks
Books	Migraine (1970) Awakenings (1973) A Leg to Stand On (1984) The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales (1985) Seeing Voices: A Journey Into the World of the Deaf (1989) An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales (1995) The Island of the Colorblind (1997) Uncle Tungsten (2001) Oaxaca Journal (2002) Musicophilia (2007) The Mind's Eye (2010) Hallucinations (2012) On the Move: A Life (2015) Gratitude (2015) Oliver Sacks: The Last Interview and Other Conversations (2016) The River of Consciousness (2017) Everything in Its Place: First Loves and Last Tales (2019)
Adaptations	At First Sight Awakenings The Man Who: a theatrical research The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat The Music Never Stopped
Related	84928 Oliversacks Insomniac City Oliver Sacks: His Own Life

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