(Photo credit: James Matthew Daniel)

Michael Hersch’s latest opera, “and we each,” created in collaboration with poet Shane McCrae, makes its New York premiere at National Sawdust on Feb. 6.

Hersch’s opera was conceived in period immediately following his recovery from a near-death experience early last year.

The composer expressed in a press release that, “In many respects, that I wanted to find you here, commissioned by loadbang, is very much in dialogue with my recent opera and we, each, but instead of an attempt to engage with the broader currents of and within relationships, this new sextet cuts directly into personal spaces… The most terrifying part of the ordeal was not, in fact, landing on that line between life and death, but simply the lack of agency and day-to-day clarity during that emergent period upon stepping back from it; restriction, confusion, and misapplication of power reigning overall. These things still haunt…”

The 30-minute score work sets texts by Abdellatif Laâbi, Anja Utler, Stav Poleg, and Shane McCrae. Soprano Ah Young Hong and baritone Jesse Blumberg perform alongside loadbang and violinist Miranda Cuckson and bassist Will Yager. James Matthew Daniel is the stage director, and Tito Muñoz conducts.

Prior to National Sawdust’s New York performance, the work gets its world premiere at Columbia University’s St. Paul’s Chapel, on Dec. 8.