THE SONG OF SAKUNTALA

WORLD PREMIERE JUNE 2026

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Music by Timothy Nelson

Texts by Sarojini Naidu Rabindranath Tagore, Vidyapati

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Featuring Aryssa Leigh Burrs, Teresa Ferrara, Marvin Wayne Allen

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With Rajib Karmakar, Nitin Mitta, Emily Grace Konkle, Niccolo Seligmann, Stephanie Ying

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(Approximate running time 90 mins)

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Drawn from India’s most celebrated dramatic masterpiece—Kālidāsa’s 5th-century Shakuntala—and inspired by a story that has captivated composers from Schubert to Alfano, this luminous new opera by IN Series Artistic Director Timothy Nelson weaves together Western baroque and Indian classical musical traditions into a richly immersive meditation on love, loss, memory, and redemption.

Its libretto draws from centuries of Indian poetry alongside sacred passages from the Mahabharata, creating a layered and evocative musical world. Conceived in the spirit of an intimate Indian classical music gathering, Song of Sakuntala unfolds like a single, ever-transforming song—moving through longing, meditation, yearning, whispering, chanting, calling, and remembrance late into the night. The result is an extraordinary theatrical and musical experience that invites audiences into a space of deep listening, emotional resonance, and timeless storytelling.

Imagined in the still of a concert of Indian classical music, it promises an evening like a “single song, permutated across the hours, in a mood of evocation and remembrance and longing illuminated by swirling, dizzying aspiration - meditation, yearning, whispering, calling, chanting, talking and touching late into the night.”