Craig Verm in Gotham Opera double-bill at Metropolitan Museum

Craig Verm in Il combattimento (Photo by Richard Termine) and from the Barihunks calendar

The Gotham Chamber Opera is presenting a double bill of Monteverdi's  Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda along with a newly commissioned work, I Have No Stories to Tell You, by  Lembit Beecher. Performances are on Wednesday, February 26 and Thursday, February 27, 2014 at 7pm at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, who co-commissioned the production.

The performances will be staged in two locations in the Museum: Monteverdi’s opera will be performed in the Museum’s Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Arms and Armor Court, and Beecher’s new work will be performed in the Medieval Sculpture Hall.

Barihunk Craig Verm stars in the production along with mezzo-soprano Beth Clayton.  They will be joined by tenor Samuel Levine, mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer, soprano Sarah Tucker, and mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway. 

 Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda from the Netherlands Opera:

Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda was published in 1638 in the composer’s Eighth Book of Madrigals. This operatic scena tells the story of the Christian soldier Tancredi who battles with a Muslim soldier, unknown to Tancredi as his lover Clorinda because she is disguised in armor. When Clorinda is mortally wounded, Tancredi discovers her identity. As she lies dying, she asks to be baptized. The instrumentation for the scena is string quartet and continuo.

 I Have No Stories To Tell You, turns from the battlefield to domestic life to tell the story of a soldier’s return home after extended assignment in the Middle East. Haunted by her experiences and reluctant to discuss them with a husband who no longer seems to understand her, she struggles to readjust to home. As we see glimpses into her life over the course of a year, we begin to understand the burden of guilt she carries, her inability to communicate it with her husband, and the way in which her husband's need to know will drive their relationship to the brink. Scored for a period instrument ensemble and inspired by interviews with soldiers and army psychologists, I Have No Stories To Tell You explores the effects of war on one's identity and sense of home. The instrumentation for the opera is string quartet, theorbo, harpsichord, Baroque oboe, and electronics.