Entwined

Entwined: A Double Feature

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Featuring the world-premiere of Entwined: Love’s Magicians by Derek Goldman and El retablo de maese Pedro (Master Peter’s Puppet Show) by Manuel de Falla.

In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Manuel de Falla’s seminal chamber opera, El retablo de maese Pedro (Master Peter’s Puppet Show), PCE and playwright/director Derek Goldman team up to present Entwined: A Double Feature. This program features the world premiere of Goldman's sensuous new performance piece conjuring the deep and unlikely friendship between Federico García Lorca, widely regarded as the greatest Spanish poet of the twentieth century, and Manuel de Falla, Spain’s most prominent composer of the period. With Flamenco artists, solosits, actors, and more, the performance will help contextualize the second half of the program.

In the second half, PCE performs the chamber opera El retablo de maese Pedro, possibly de Falla's best work. The opera was premiered in March 1923 at the salon of Princess de Polignac who commissioned the work. The opera was inspired by a chapter in Don Quixote and is set in early 17th century Spain. In this collaboration with visual artist Kevork Mourad, puppets are replaced by animation synced with the score performed by PostClassical Ensemble.

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“Entwined: Love’s Magicians'' by Derek Goldman

This is a sensuous new multi-disciplinary performance piece that conjures the deep and unlikely friendship between Federico García Lorca and Manuel de Falla. While on the surface the two men were a study in contrasts, they became entwined through a deep friendship and profound mutual influence on one another’s work, and their shared passion for the rich heritage of traditional Spanish music (Andalusian “cante jondo” or “deep song”). This performance explores and celebrates the many paradoxes at the heart of this profound and complex relationship such as: Lorca’s homosexuality and liberal world view and Falla’s devout Catholicism; old and new artistic forms (the recuperation of ancient traditional forms along with radical experimentation and innovation); love and tenderness alongside suffering and death; the beauty and poetic genius of Lorca’s writing, and his tragic untimely murder at the hands of Nationalist forces.

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Selected Critic's Choice by Washington Classical Review