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This a cappella pop opera focuses on the little-known romantic relationship between Emily Dickinson and her sister-in-law, Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson. Letters between Emily and Sue, as well as Emily’s poetry, document an intimate relationship that was not socially acceptable or legally recognized in 19th-century Massachusetts. The plot of Emily & Sue extrapolates from Emily and Sue’s correspondences and explores the themes of isolation, queerness, and forbidden love.
The opera premiered on June 2 and 3, 2022, at Amherst College, which owns Dickinson's home/The Emily Dickinson Museum and commissioned the work. The live version of the opera is composed for a fixed media a cappella pop trio (Iris Vocal Trio) backtrack and one live medium-high or high voice, who portrays Dickinson (a role created by Jasmine Muhammad). A film version of the opera directed by Ron Bashford, created in collaboration with Four/Ten Media and filmed in Dickinson’s actual room, will be released the same day as the album.
credits
released November 11, 2022
Music by: Dana Kaufman
Libretto by: Aiden K. Feltkamp with text by Emily Dickinson and Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson
Performed by: Jasmine Muhammad & Iris Vocal Trio
Emily Dickinson: Jasmine Muhammad
Voice 1/Sue: Dara Gallagher
Voice 2: David Rowen
Voice 3: Andrew Kim
Recorded April 2022 in New York, NY
Producer: Dana Kaufman
Vocal Producer and Recording Engineer: Andrew Kim
Mastering: Eric Scholz Productions
Album Illustration & Design: Setty Hopkins
Commissioned by Amherst College
Made possible through the support of Amherst College and University of California, Riverside
Stunning piano pieces make up this highly anticipated debut on Coldcut’s label and "playground for free expression." Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 14, 2017
The sheer musicality, virtuosity, humanity and the drive for exploration. Just so beautiful, enough for years of fullfilling studies for the curious ones like me. Kosho