Tonight, March 23, Peak Performances will present the world premiere of “Quixote,” a new opera with music by Amy Beth Kirsten, directed by Mark DeChiazza, performed by the HOWL ensemble. It will play at 7:30 tonight and Friday, at 8 p.m. on Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Sunday at the Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University, 1 Normal Ave. Tickets are available at peakperfs.org or by calling 973-655-5112.
Peak Performances commissioned the 75-minute work as part of its new extended residency program, PeARL (Performing Arts Research Laboratory).
On Saturday, March 25, after the performance, Kirsten and DeChiazza will have a community conversation, sharing responses and reflections about the show.
Kirsten, DeChiazza and their collaborators have created Quixote at Montclair State University over the past two years as the inaugural artists in PeARL.
“Quixote” is a reimagining of the Miguel de Cervantes classic, “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha,” about a mad knight who imagines himself to be living in medieval times. Providing the voices inside Don Quixote’s head are a soprano (Lindsay Kesselman), mezzo-soprano (Hai-Ting Chinn), contralto (Kirsten Sollek) and four singing players from Sandbox Percussion (Ian Rosenbaum, Victor Caccese, Terry Sweeney and Jonathan Allen). DeChiazza plays Alonso Quixano, the old man whose alter ego is Quixote, played by Terry Sweeney and others.