IN Series to Present American Premiere of ‘The Alcestiad’
By David SalazarIN Series Opera is set to present the American debut of Louis Talma’s “The Alcestiad.”
Set to take place on July 20, 2025, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, the production will conclude the 2024-25 season and stars Brian Arreola, Joseph Haughton, Rob McGinness, and Elizabeth Mondragon. Moreover, this concert performance will spotlight the third act of the opera with piano accompaniment.
“We are thrilled to finally present, for the first time in her native country, a portion of the masterpiece by Louise Talma and legendary and visionary American playwright Thornton Wilder,” said Artistic Director Timothy Nelson per an official press release. “Much of IN Series’ work is about giving voice—to local living artists, to unrecognized historic voices, and to works whose dynamic brilliance is still largely unknown. ‘The Alcestiad’ is one of the most important works by an American composer, a landmark creation at the heart of the 20th Century, the American Century. Its story of rebirth through personal sacrifice is at the core of the human experience.”
The opera uses Thornton Wilder’s 1955 play as the framework for its libretto. In the story, Alcestis, wife and queen of King Admetus, offers her life to the gods to save her husband. Heracles, who is a guest in their home, learns of the intended sacrifice and heads to the underworld to bring her back.
Talma’s opera premiered at Oper Frankfurt back in 1962. It was the first full-length opera by an American woman to be staged by a major European opera company. It was Talma’s only composition for the stage.
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