AN ALCESTIAD
SUMMER 2024
TALMA | WILDER
A “resurrection” season ends by returning to the timeless story of Alceste. In 1962 the first opera by an American female composer was presented in Europe and was proclaimed a masterpiece. THE ALCESTIAD by composer Louise Talma, with a libretto by one of America’s most important and famed playwrights, Thornton Wilder (Our Town), sets Euripides’ story of life after death. It has never been performed in America. When Thornton Wilder died in 1975, Louise Talma, also his devoted friend, organized a memorial service at Yale University in which a portion of this landmark opera was presented with Talma at the piano. IN Series brings this neglected and important work to the attention of American audiences with a recreation of that memorial performance. DC audiences will be the first to hear this music performed live in a program that will also tell the story of Talma and Wilder’s friendship and partnership.
Led by pianist Emily Baltzer
