The Making of the Representative for Planet 8

An opera in three acts for orchestra, small chorus and soloists

180′

Music by Philip Glass. Libretto by Doris Lessing based on her novel.

CAST:
2S, Mz, A, 2Bas, 2B, SATB Chorus; 2(pic).2.2.bcl.2/ 4.3.2.btrb.1/ 3 perc (timp, SD, BD, cym, tamb, tgl, glsp)/ hp/ str

COMMISSION:
Commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera, the English National Opera and the Landestheater Kiel, Germany

PREMIERE:
July 8, 1988 at Houston Grand Opera

NOTES:
Doris Lessing’s philosophical/mystical novel tells of an Eden-like planet plunged into an ice age that is extinguishing all life. Guided by the overlords from Canopus, an extra-terrestrial civilization, the people of Planet 8 learn to accept their individual deaths and evolve into a collective universal soul (the ‘Representative’ of the title), that survives physical destruction.

PUBLISHER:
Dunvagen Music Publishers