Leading Opera Companies and the U.S. Department of Defense are joining forces to create a new performance of The Falling and the Rising by contemporary artistic duo Zach Redler, composer, and Jerre Dye, librettist.
Texas Christian University’s School of Music is proud to present the world premiere of the new opera performance, which will include three performances featuring a cast of members of the U.S. Army Chorus, and two performances featuring TCU opera students.
According to a news release, the performance aims to paint a portrait of the resiliency, fortitude and heroism of our nation’s wounded warriors. The new opera will premiere at 7 p.m., April 6, at Ed Landreth Hall and Auditorium, and will run for five performances.
Evening performances will be held April 6 and 7 at 7 p.m., with matinee performances April 7 at 2 p.m. and April 8 at 2 and 4 p.m. Tickets are free, but must be reserved at https://finearts.tcu.edu/music/event/spring-opera-the-falling-and-the-rising.
The Falling and the Rising is the product of a large-scale project commissioned by TCU, the Arizona Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera Memphis, Seagle Music Colony, Seattle Opera and the U.S. Department of Defense.
“Working on this piece has been one of the most satisfying experiences in my career, TCU Opera Studio Director David Gately said in the release. “The collaboration of the many disparate groups who put this project together has been an inspiration. The incredibly moving story of the opera, brought to life by soldiers who live this truth every day and by the TCU students who are inspired by them, is a theatrical experience not to be missed.”
The storyline of The Falling and the Rising has been pulled from a series of first-hand interviews of recovering soldiers conducted by the creative team together with Staff Sgt. Ben Hilgert at Walter Reed National Military Hospital, Bethesda Medical Center and Fort Mead. It was from these interviews that Redler and Dye created a small cast of composite characters that represent their various interviewees.
“This operatic soldier’s odyssey was created in hopes of capturing the indomitable spirit of our U.S. military veterans and to shed light on the inspirational power of their often-overlooked stories,” Hilgert said in the release. “The Falling and the Rising is a story of family, service and sacrifice inside a period of great uncertainty.”
The piece is centered around a strong female lead who has been put into a medically induced coma following an IED attack. The opera details her path to recovery through a series of dreamscapes intertwined with the experiences of her comrades. As a group, they find community and comfort as they navigate their personal journeys toward healing and homecoming.