Image courtesy of Navona Records

Navona Records has announced the Jan. 14, 2022 release of Boston-based Guerilla Opera’s “Rumpelstiltskin.”

Composed by Marti Epstein and conducted by Jeffrey Means, the album re-examines the classic fairy tale and explores the idea that villains are made, and not born. Epstein’s take on the story turns Rumpelstiltskin into a tragic figure across the six scenes comprising the opera.

Artists appearing on the album include soprano Aliana de la Guardia as Rumpelstiltskin, mezzo-soprano Britt Brown as Gretchen, soprano Emily Thorner as Miller, and baritone Brian Church as King.

“I rewrote the story to fill in details that are left out in the original fairy tale. I felt that only the King’s motivations—greed, and possibly lust—were clear. The other characters’ behaviors needed some explanation. Why does Rumpelstiltskin want a child so badly? Why does the girl agree to give him her child, only to renege on that promise? Why did the father lie to the King about his daughter’s spinning skill? The spinning scene was also very compelling to me. I could not get “Gretchen am Spinnrade” by Schubert out of my head. The motivic material in the second scene is based on the piano accompaniment of the Schubert song,” Epstein states on the album’s website.