About This Show

Wellspring is Ruth Margraff’s new “world folk opera” set in 1999 war-torn Sarajevo. It follows a United Nations peacekeeper in Bosnia-Herzegovina as she is serenaded by two brothers with war criminal poetry and Maxfield Parrish lutes. Wellspring merges western and eastern music in a live score by composer Nikos Brisco influenced by both Greek/Ottoman urban blues and the Romani/Gypsy music of the Balkan marketplace. Directed by Elyse Singer, Wellspring features the acclaimed Cafe Antarsia Ensemble.

Wellspring is directly inspired by Ruth Margraff’s travels to visit her mother, who worked in Bosnia as a peacekeeper from 1998-2003, helping refugees return to their destroyed homes and cataloguing war crimes of local police. This radical libretto also draws inspiration from the rival troubadours and haunting gypsy ghosts of Verdi’s Il Trovatore.

Show Details

Dates: Opening Night: December 13, 2007 Final Performance: December 15, 2007