140′

Music by Philip Glass in collaboration with Robert Wilson. Libretto by Luísa Costa Gomes.
Commissioned by the Comissão Nacional para as Comemoraçãoes dos Descobrimentos Portugueses.

4S, 3Mz, 3T, 2Bar, 2B-Bar, B; SATB chorus; speaking role; 2.pic.2.2.Ecl.bcl.2btbn.1/4 perc (cel, glsp, SD, TD, BD, tgl, maracas, xyl, wdbl, tamb, cym, finger cyms, cast, tam-t, whistle)/ hp/ epf/ str

September 26 1998, Lisbon at Expo’98, Teatro Camões – Julio Verne Auditorium

The opera touches upon discoveries throughout time beginning with the expeditions of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama.

“The work is not concerned with historical accuracy. It pursues, rather, an open reflection on the concept of beginning (as Aristotle writes, ‘a beginning is that which does not come necessarily after something else, but after which it is natural for another thing to exist or to come to be’). The title White Raven alludes to the myth in which Apollo turns a white crow black for denouncing Cronis’ infidelity – in the opera the crow is the messenger of the misfortune, the symbol of lost innocence.” — Luísa Costa Gomes

Video on Youtube.

White Raven at Wise Music Classical