re:Naissance opera's first commission is coming to life! Sanctuary & Storm is a new, one-act opera by Tawnie Olson and Roberta Barker. The opera conjures Eleanor of Aquitaine and Hildegard of Bingen from the obscurity of history and imagines the debates that these two powerhouses from medieval Europe may have engaged in.

This is a work-in-progress and you are invited to attend the first concert reading of this new opera.

Featuring: Bahareh Poureslami as Eleanor; Debi Wong as Hildegard and Tyler Simpson as The Angel Of History.

Conducted by Kathleen Allan

Orchestra: Marc Destrubé (Violin), Tawnya Popoff (Viola), Isidora Nojkovic (Cello), Mark Haney (Bass), Liam Hockley (Clarinet), Julia Chien (Percussion), Tina Chang (Piano).

SYNOPSIS

Sanctuary and Storm is a new opera about women’s histories, struggles, and hopes by Tawnie Olson (composer) and Roberta Barker (librettist). The opera imagines a fictional debate between two of the most powerful women in medieval Europe: Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, the Sibyl of the Rhein, and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of England. These two brilliant and unconventional women both struggle with the limitations that have been placed upon them by a patriarchal society. However, they have dealt with these challenges in very different ways: one finding power in the spiritual realm and the other in the political arena. As their diverging lived experiences lead them into a heated argument about how best to move beyond the oppression they face, they lose sight of their common goal: the dawn of justice in a world reborn. Their paths are illuminated by the presence of the beautiful and terrifying Angel of History, who sees into the past, present, and future. The Angel reminds Hildegard and Eleanor—as well as the audience—that a shared hope unites us all, but warns that history’s struggles have a habit of repeating themselves.