Toni Morrison

Desdemona

An intimate and profound staged concert by Rokia Traore, Toni Morrison and Peter Sellars

19 - 20 July 2012 / 19:30
Barbican Hall

 

Tickets: from £15
subject to availability

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In response to Peter Sellars’ 2009 Othello, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison and the Malian singer/song-writer Rokia Traoré collaborate with him to create an intimate and profound conversation between Shakespeare's Desdemona and her African nurse Barbary from beyond the grave.

Desdemona trailer (The London production will feature a new actress - to be confirmed soon)

Rokia Traoré, the great young singer from Mali, has written the songs and sings the role of Barbary. The musical texture includes African and Western instruments, whose quiet, probing, and gently luminous qualities intensify the intimacy of the evening.

Peter Sellars talks about Desdemona

Toni Morrison has written the text that weaves the multiple histories that transmute Shakespeare’s play, for four centuries one of the most iconic, central, and disturbing treatments of race in all of Western culture, into the new realities and potential outcomes that face a rising generation of the early 21st century. In responding to Shakespeare, and finally letting these women, who are mostly silent in Shakespeare, speak and sing in the fullness of their minds and their hearts, Toni Morrison, Peter Sellars and Rokia Traoré have created their own composite work of art that will speak and sing and bear witness to the stirrings of a new era.

‘A rare and delicate show that shines a new light on Shakespeare’s tragedy.’ La Croix (France)

‘The often meditative music gives the piece poetic depth.’ Wiener Zeitung (Austria)

‘Traore’s rich and mesmerizing voice, regal bearing and fluid movement has enchanted critics.’ New York Times

Part of World Shakespeare Festival

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Part of Spring/Summer Contemporary events 2012
Part of London 2012 Festival

Desdemona is commissioned by the Barbican; Wiener Festwochen; Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers; Cal Performances, Berkeley (California); Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York; spielzeit'europa I Berliner Festspiele; Arts Council England and London 2012 Festival.

Barbican Contemporary Music
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