"The moments when the suave vocal murmurations of Vrebalov’s score come together into a rich, moody harmony feel like the outcomes of some hard-won psychic battle….luminous and transparent score….this is music full of dramatic nuance and inventive delight — not merely the backdrop to the protagonist’s life passage but its very essence.” - Joshua Kosman for San Francisco Chronicle
My interest in
Abraham in Flames opera was to explore creativity as a way to interact with the world and the self, through a prism of being young and female. Having the
Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco on board meant that in addition to their fantastic skill and talent, I could tap into the incredible power of sincerity, depth, and beauty that comes with that stage of life. The voices of girls symbolically act as complex layers of emotions, of each of us, when we search for the meaning and allow ourselves to show those emotions to others. The openness and fearlessness with which they deliver this musical material, charged with feeling, I find liberating.
I wanted to create an opera that’s very much like the world (in its most positive, ideal aspect) that we live in – a rich, stimulating mosaic of values, identities, cultures, religions, mythologies that pushes us towards self-discovery and self-realization.
