Download NERO and the Fall of Lehmann Brothers

Beginning
just days before the catastrophic collapse of the global
financial firm Lehman Brothers, the story engages the energies, fears, and
frustrations of this volatile time.
Created entirely from the interweaving of fragments from a surviving libretto
(from a lost Handel opera about the Roman emperor Nero) with actual
contemporary commentary surrounding the 2008 financial crisis, a new
dynamic narrative is presented. The financial missteps and great greed that
affected the entire world economy is the backdrop for the story that follows
Nero, a hardened banking CEO. From trading floor scheming, strip club
maneuverings, and the intense senate hearings, the plot continually ties into
references of the deeds of this cruel emperor. The market crashes as all of
Rome burns…and Nero is brought up to the Senate to account…all amidst
his ill-fated love of Poppea, a New York City exotic dancer. Only in the final
scene in the depths of Limbo (or is it Hell?) is some hope offered.
Libretto Excerpts
Don’t get that, I am soft, I am lovable…but what I really want to do is…
I really want to reach in and rip out their hearts and eat it before they die.
I agree we need some help, but the Bros. always win! ~NERO
The heavens are infuriated with his wrath. Disfigured boss! Rot. Nature itself is
disgusted! ~AGRIPPINA
This high degree of governance risk makes our problem turn into a death spiral.
~SENECA
When lust wins out and kisses turn to vice, pure white is so f*cking blackened, when lust
wins out. ~POPPEA
Dance, Dance. We must all dance! As long as the music is playing we must get up and
dance! ~TRADERS
NERO/CEO: Tenor
POPPEA/Exotic Dancer: Soprano
AGRIPPINA/Trader: Mezzo-Soprano
SENECA/Trader: Baritone
Trio Bank Traders (Tenor/Baritone/Bass)
3 Female Dancers
DECEMBER 2 & 3, 2016 8pm
THE ITALIAN ACADEMY Teatro Theatre
New York City
ECCE Ensemble
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Piccolo/Flute
Oboe
Clarinet
Trumpet
Trombone
Tuba
Harp
Piano
Percussion
Strings
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Image Photo: Ronald Andrew Schvarztman
The highly innovative and conjured world of
composer Jonathan Dawe joins Baroque
imagery with a modernist mix, cast with dynamic
dramatic flair. Cited for his “quirky, fascinating
modernist variations on earlier styles”(Time Out) his
music involves the recasting of energies and sounds
of the past into decisively new expressions, through
compositional workings based upon fractal geometry.
Recent pieces and productions have been described
as “music of such vitality and drama” (New York Times)
“a brake squealing collision of influence” (Boston Globe)
and “provocative.” (Time Out)
Described as “one of our most talented and
distinctive – yet little-known – contemporary
composers,” (Seen and Heard International) Dawe is the
youngest composer to have been commissioned by
James Levine and The Boston Symphony Orchestra.
The Flowering Arts, a bold fractured transformation
of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Les arts florissants, was
hailed in 2005 as a “Powerful Premiere” (Boston Globe).
Levine writes “His take on that earlier music is extraordinary.” Boston Herald concluded: “In
classical terms Dawe is practically a kid so Levine’s interest should be taken very seriously.”
Cosí faran tutti (They’ll All Do It!) a prequel to Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte premiered in
December 2012 at The Teatro Theatre of The Italian Academy in New York City. The
operatic production featured the modern/Baroque dance ensemble Company XIV, Ryan
McAdams conducting, and Alastair Boag, directing. Chosen as a ‘2012 Pick-of-the-Year,’
the opera was said to “enchant on every level” and that it “outshines many of our more
famous operas.” (Seen and Heard International)
Other recent full-length productions include Cracked Orlando: dramma per musica e
fractals (librettist Terry Marks Tarlow) with countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo,
Company XIV, and The Second Instrumental Unit with conductor Ryan McAdams, and
Alastair Boag, directing, produced at the Italian Academy in 2010. In 2009 scenes from
Armide, an opera set in the future in post-war Iraq, was presented by New York City Opera
(VOX) and earlier by the American Composers Orchestra at Zankel Hall, NYC.
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…his contemporary take on that older music is extraordinary
-James Levine BSO Program Book 1/14/06
Music with such vitality and drama
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A Brake-squealing collision of influences
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