Synopses & Reviews
Shadowtime is an opera based on the work and life of the German philosopher, essayist, and cultural critic Walter Benjamin. The libretto by Bernstein was written for the internationally renowned composer Brian Ferneyhough. The opera had its premier at the Munich Biennale in 2004 and has been performed in Paris and other German cities. In July of 2005, the opera will be performed by The Lincoln Center in New York City, at which time the published libretto will be featured.
Charles Bernstein is one of the most noted poets of contemporary American literature. His books include Islets/Irritations, The Sophist, Dark City (which will be reprinted by Green Integer in 2006), With Strings, and a collection of selected poems, Republics of Reality: 1975–1995 (published by Sun and Moon Press and available through Green Integer). He is also acclaimed for his critical essays, which include Content’s Dream (Sun and Moon Press, now available from Northwestern University Press) and A Poetics (Harvard University Press), and, in addition, a collection of essays and poems, My Way: Speeches and Poems. Formerly the David Gray Professor of Poetry and Letters at the State University of New York, Buffalo, Bernstein is now a professor of literature at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in New York City.
Synopsis
Drama. Jewish studies.SHADOWTIME is a "thought opera" based on the work and life of the German philosopher, essayist, and cultural critic, Walter Benjamin. The libretto was written by noted poet Charles Bernstein for composer Brian Ferneyhough and had its premiere in May 2004 at the Munich Biennale, with subsequent productions at the Festival d'Automne in Paris, and the Lincoln Center Festival in New York. In its seven scenes, SHADOWTIME explores some of the major themes of Benjamin's work, including the intertwined natures of history, time, transience, timelessness, language, and melancholy; the possibilities for a transformational leftist politics; the interconnectivity of language, things, and cosmos; and the role of dialectical materiality, aura, interpretation, and translation in art. Beginning on the last evening of Benjamin's life, SHADOWTIME projects an alternative course for what happened on that fateful night.
Synopsis
An opera libretto by the great American poet Charles Bernstein, performed in Paris, London, and New York.
About the Author
Charles Bernstein (born April 4, 1950) is an American poet, theorist, editor, and literary scholar. Bernstein holds the Donald T. Regan Chair in the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He is one of the most prominent members of the Language (or L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E) poets. In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2005, Bernstein was awarded the Dean's Award for Innovation in Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. He has also been a visiting professor at Columbia University, Brown University, and Princeton University.