Event

In Their Own Words

The Secret Opera, a New York and New Jersey-based opera company called nimble and imaginative by New York Classical Review, brings its spring production, "In Their Own Words: A Triptych of Staged Song Cycles" to South Oxford Space (Brooklyn, NY) on April 21st and April 23rd. This triple bill will include "He Would Not Stay: Seven Poems of A. E. Housman" by Joseph Rebman, "From the Diary of Virginia Woolf" by Dominick Argento, and "Three Whitman Songs" by Ross Griffey.

Directed by Scottish actor/director Marcus Crawford Guy and musically directed by Dmitry Glivinskiy, "In Their Own Words" takes as its text writings of three renowned authors and poets, all of whom were LGBTQ at a time when this was far from acceptable and often hidden, even from the modern recollection of their lives.

Each piece offers a unique view of the authors inner worlds: Whitman is exuberant and rhapsodic, exploring the invisible connections between people both known and unknown; Housman despairs over a rejected and unspeakable love; and Woolf gradually approaches her suicide as she breaks down due to mental illness and depression. Mezzo-sopranos Caitlin McKechney and Hannah McDermott portray Virginia Woolf and Walt Whitman, respectively, and baritone Matthew Walsh portrays A. E. Housman in this staged trio of works, bringing these complex characters, and the genre of art song, to life in an unconventional and engaging way.