March 14, 2017 As a curator at C4NM, I am focusing my energies on presenting programs featuring women as primary creators. I recently connected with Luna Pearl Woolf, the Composer-in-Residence […]
February 9, 2017 We’re thrilled that OVERTURES to Bach has been nominated for a JUNO Award in the category of Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber Ensemble 2017. […]
We are thrilled to announce the winner of our inaugural call for scores! Selected from nearly 150 applicants from around the world, Luna Pearl Woolf will write an original score to Samuel Beckett’s mime play […]
October 13, 2016 Matt Haimovitz, cello – “Overtures to Bach” – composed by PHILIP GLASS, VIJAY IYER, ROBERTO SIERRA, DU YUN, LUNA PEARL WOOLF plus The Six BACH: Cello Suites […]
December 2, 2016 “We’re looking for the event in the crypt,” I announced. “Where is the crypt?” Four alarmed eyeballs stared back at me. It was the second day of […]
September 28, 2016 Overtures to Bach Matt Haimovitz Pentatone Oxingale Series (PTC 5186 561) The following is an excerpt from Strings Attached (October 2016) which can be read in its entirety […]
August 1, 2016 Heitor Villa-Lobos called Bach “…a kind of universal folkloric source, rich and profound.” He mined a particularly rich Bachian vein throughout his career, as have so many […]
August 1, 2016 Matt Haimovitz’s continuously-evolving and intense engagement with the Bach Cello Suites reaches a new zenith with Overtures to Bach, six new commissions that anticipate and reflect each […]
06 May 2016 Watch a four minute video of Luna Pearl Woolf’s 12 May 2016 Triptyque program at the Salle Bourgie, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from La Fabrique Culturelle TV. The program features Mélange à […]
January 7, 2016 Opera explores pivotal moment in American history in late 1890s Montreal composer Luna Pearl Woolf’s first opera, Better Gods, opens Thursday night for two performances in front of […]
The music by Wolff demonstrated a search for authentic Hawaiian chant and island instruments including the nose flute, warrior sticks and stone castanets. The effective use of these instruments represented a reach to pre-Western influence, even as we had a Western orchestra juxtaposed in this clash of cultures.
Woolf might have done the music this way to allow for two Hawaiian compositions–the traditional “Kumulipo” (“Creation Chant”) and “Aloha ‘Oe”–to be featured. Queen Lili’uokalani was the English translator of “Kumulipo” and the composer of “Aloha ‘Oe.” The Dresser was impressed with how seamlessly and beautifully Woolf blended “Aloha ‘Oe” into the music ofBetter Gods, making this old chestnut new to the ear.
Offering something slightly more substantial than the 20-minute pieces shown last month, WNO premiered Better Gods, an hour-long work by composer Luna Pearl Woolf and librettist Caitlin Vincent on Friday evening. The subject is the fate of Queen Lili’uokalani, last monarch of Hawaii. In 1898, Lili’uokalani attempts to repudiate the U.S.-friendly constitution inherited from her predecessor and shore up Hawaiian sovereignty.
Washington National Opera’s Better Gods brings a mostly unknown chapter in Hawaiian history onto the stage at the Kennedy Center, telling the story of Queen Lili’uokalani, the island nation’s last monarch, with dignity and high artistic values. I imagine the Hawaiian “better gods” are happy.
Ms. Woolf’s gorgeous score is underlined by the use of traditional Hawaiian chants and her score utilized authentic instruments like the nose flute, Kala’au (percussive sticks), and Ili’ili (castanets), that are native to the island. Ms. Woolf’s score also uses Queen Lili`uokalani’s famous composition, “Aloha ‘Oe”, sung in gorgeous counterpoint by soprano Ariana Wehr.
This fascinating and heart wrenching story of Better Gods is a production worth seeing. The touches of Hawaiian authenticity, and the tremendous strength of the performers, make the new fascinating and heart-wrenching Better Gods from the Washington National Opera a powerful experience.
Oxingale Records 