In …(Iphigenia), two of the most visionary and daring musical voices of our time – composer Wayne Shorter, “generally acknowledged to be jazz’s greatest living composer” (The New York Times) and librettist and performer esperanza spalding, “well over a decade into one of the most fruitful and strikingly original careers” (Rolling Stone) have created a modern operatic re-imagining of a powerful ancient story.  

…(Iphigenia) is conducted by Clark Rundell. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw contributed a cappella vocal arrangements, and additional text is provided by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Safiya Sinclair, and Ganavya Doraiswamy. …(Iphigenia) is produced by Octopus Theatricals (Mara Isaacs), Cath Brittan, and Real Magic, a company created by spalding and Jeff Tang, to develop …(Iphigenia) in an environment of radical experimentation and open collaboration. 

Shorter and spalding’s …(Iphigenia), unlike its forebears, is not an adaptation of the Greek myth as much as it is an intervention into myth-making itself, and an intervention into music and opera as we know it. Classical and jazz forms collide in a full orchestral score that features Shorter’s groundbreaking method of symphonic improvisation. …(Iphigenia) is multiplied, her identity is fractured and shared until the stage is occupied by a chorus of her.  …(Iphigenia) stares down the history of opera and makes some demands on its future: No more tragic women singing through suicide and going mad in perfect pitch. No more spectacles of women dead and dying.  In the end Shorter and spalding turn their gaze outward beyond the stage: What will we make, they ask, at this precise moment in our collective present when we are so desperately in need of new visions for the world.

 “Our Iphigenia has at its core a sense of autonomy,” says spalding. “In this adventure of life, you have freedom of choice. All cards are on the table and Iphigenia gets to choose, free of everything. Through her example, we can learn how to take a creative approach to everything, using the power of spontaneous engagement. The overarching sentiment is one of humanistic love, of wanting to re-awaken the dreams of youth free of the pressures of adulthood.”

…(Iphigenia) is co-commissioned by Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley; The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, DC); The Broad Stage (Los Angeles); ArtsEmerson (Boston); Carolina Performing Arts (Chapel Hill, NC); and MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA).

Generous support for “Iphigenia” is provided by the Ford Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Alexander Leff, Thomas M. Neff, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, New Music USA, and everyone who gave to the …(Iphigenia)  crowdfunding campaign.