Along with the acclaimed ensemble concert:nova, we're pleased to present our first work by a female composer—the boundary-breaking Missy Mazzoli—and librettist Royce Vavrek. Inspired by the fascinating salvaged journals of early-twentieth-century explorer Isabelle Eberhardt, the 2012 chamber opera has been called “powerful” (The Wall Street Journal) and “a captivating multimedia spectacle” (The New York Times). Singing Isabelle Eberhardt is the performer who created the role, Abigail Fischer, praised by the Los Angeles Times as “enthralling…one of the rising stars of new music."

Isabelle Eberhardt (1877-1904): Turn-of-the-twentieth-century nomad, journalist, and Sufi. Transgressor of boundaries and convention. One of the most unique women of her era. After losing her family, the young adventurer left Switzerland to live an unconfined existence in the North African desert, vividly capturing her travels in journals, and ultimately died tragically in a flash flood at 27. This is her song.