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Appeal for Identification

Opera In Seven Tableaux (in progress)


Projected Duration: 120 minutes

Synopsis

Who speaks for Body 37, one of the many unidentified corpses whose images appear in the local New Delhi newspapers? Past and present are irreconcilable. Who can tell of beginnings, embodied existence, the feel of words in the mouth, blankets before sleep, home, the presence of others, a journey, work, a life lived? Only the body speaks, the dry teeth; only the empty land, the very stones.

Dedicated to, based on the lives of, and focused on the poor, the shelterless, the disenfranchised, and the unknown, Appeal for Identification composes a life in seven tableaux, through a bricolage of epic poetry, children's stories, chance encounters, and overheard speech, sung in English, Hindi, and Ango-Saxon.

While they are unfortunate, they are as generous, as brave, as defeated, as victorious as anyone.

"What we are doing is not heroic. We are just doing what we are doing. Like anyone would. Anyone. Nothing heroic here."


Note
Appeal for Identification is a large-scale music / theater piece that bears witness to the lives of Delhi's nameless dead. As part of this project, I lived in the Gol Market neighborhood in central New Delhi, collecting the images and stories of unidentified and unclaimed bodies.

Body 26


Excerpts



Performance by ONO - Ostrava New Orchestra; Irena Troupova, soprano, Ondrej Vrabec, conductor



Performance by the Parhelion Trio with optional fixed media



Performance by ALEA III; Rebekah Alexander, soprano, Theodore Antoniou, conductor



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