“…if we’re not willing to be challenged, we’re missing out on what life is asking of us.” Peter Sellars

One of the foremost directors of our time, Peter Sellars, speaks to The Guardian about the artist in society, free speech, opera, Klinghoffer, and The Gospel According to the Other Mary:

“The great painters (…) depicted their own times. The events they portray ask us where we stand, who we are, what we’re doing right now (…) I find the same sense of immediacy in the Bach passions. They’re about what we did this morning and what we’re doing tonight, and the values they represent are deeply attached to universal questions of justice, reconciliation, restoration, suffering, illness, recovery and resurrection. These are challenging issues, but if we’re not willing to be challenged, we’re missing out on what life is asking of us.”

Eötvös’ Lady Sarashina in Lisbon

The Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra, together with the Sao Luiz Theatre in Lisbon, is presenting the Portuguese premiere of Péter Eötvös’ opera Lady Sarashina.

Commissioned by the Opéra National de Lyon, and successfully premiered there in 2008, the opera’s libretto is by Mari Mezei and is based on the book As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams: Recollections of a Woman in Eleventh-Century Japan, the travel diary of a Japanese lady and a classic of Japanese literature.