Muhly writing opera on Mormon church

[October 29, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Nico Muhly has been commissioned to compose an opera titled "Dark Sisters," about a woman's attempt to split from a church that had split with mainstream Mormonism in the early 20th century.

The opera by the 29-year-old New Yorker will have its premiere presented by the Gotham Chamber Opera at John Jay College's Gerald Lynch Theater in November 2011. It will be shown by the Opera Company of Philadelphia in June 2012 and is co-commissioned by Gotham-Theatre Group, the companies announced Thursday.

Playwright Stephen Karam is writing the libretto, based on the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints. The creative team said the plot draws inspiration from media reports of a 1953 raid at Short Creek, Ariz., and a 2008 raid at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, plus stories of the 80-plus wives of Brigham Young and Joseph Smith.

Muhly's "Two Boys," a fictionalized account of a British teenager who used the Internet in an attempt to arrange his own murder in 2003, has its world premiere at the English National Opera next June 24 and will be shown at the Metropolitan Opera during the first half of the 2013-14 season.

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Online:

http://www.darksistersopera.org/

[Associated Press]

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