A mother struggles to find the right song to bring her baby to sleep, her lullaby drowned out by the sound of protests coming through the window and the pulsing of music from below. Her own agitation swells with the urgency of the revolution outside, and the baby’s restlessness grows. How can she bring her baby a measure of peace and rest in the midst of a fight for its very future?
Lullaby is a new opera by composer Kamala Sankaram, heralded for her “seemingly endless ability to birth beautiful, memorable melodic motives and weave them together dramatically” (LA Weekly) on a libretto by writer Guillermo Calderon, (Sundance World Cinema Jury Prize for Drama, Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear, Golden Globe nomination) and written for soprano Laura Bohn, an “amazing blend of vocal splendor and physical virtuosity” (San Francisco Chronicle). The score deftly weaves singing and speaking, strings and electronics to evoke a mother navigating her way through a world falling out of balance on a quest for peace. Unable to sleep, she and her baby venture out into the night and encounter an eccentric cast of characters on a path with a lighthearted twist leading to the lullaby she needs and her own evolution in the process. Lullaby is a testament to the interconnected nature of human lives and how the simple act of singing a baby to sleep is the oldest theme of solidarity that humanity has ever sung.
The world premier will be taking place in the Rotterdamse Opera in 2022.