The Mark of Cain

The Mark of Cain, music by composer Matthew Harris and libretto by Terry Quinn. The one-act opera, loosely based on the biblical story of Cain and Abel, is for six soloists, chorus and chamber orchestra. The premiere will take place November 8, 9 and 10, 2012. The company looks forward to presenting this work by the team of Harris and Quinn.

Cain’s sister, Zellah, has spent a lifetime tracking him from their home outside the gates of Eden to the wilds of the Land of Nod. She has vowed to avenge the slaying of her younger brother, Abel, and to learn where his unblessed bones were buried. Only when she at last hunts Cain to his desert kingdom do we see that Zellah’s mission is tainted by the memory of a jilting – and by the festering remnants of lust.