Portrait of a Nude Woman as Cleopatra Opera
Portrait of a Nude Woman as Cleopatra, poet/author/sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud's second collection of poems, connects her visual and literary talents. Observing a Rembrandt sketch with the same title, Ms. Chase-Riboud was inspired to write a narrative dialogue between Marc Antony and Cleopatra framed by Plutarch's story.
The opera, Portrait of a Nude Woman as Cleopatra is taken from this wonderful book of poems. The opera’s libretto is a Dialogue of Sensuality that provides insights into the main characters’ thoughts and emotions. The Setting is a timeless gathering place evoking images of real and shadowy beings or spirits depicting the emotion and thoughts of the texts being sung by Cleopatra, Marc Antony and the Greek Chorus while conveying the sentiments, sensations and passions suggested by the music performed by the live jazz quartet and chamber ensemble on stage. The libretto represents Flash Points of Destiny for the main characters.
Ms. Chase-Riboud says:
“The genesis of my interest in Cleopatra is based on my fascination with POWER as wielded by women throughout the ages. The concept of women ruling the earth and shaping society in immutable ways continues to be a revolutionary idea even though it has been a fact for eons. The exceptional woman -- a woman of legendary status -- is the essence of what Cleopatra is. She is an icon for modern women.”
Librettist Barbara Chase-Riboud is a Carl Sandberg Prize–winning poet and the prizewinning author of four acclaimed, widely translated historical novels, the bestselling Sally Hemings, Valide: A Novel of a Harem, Echo of Lions (about the Amistad mutiny), and The President’s Daughter, a prequel to Sally Hemings.
She is a winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and received a knighthood in arts and letters from the French government in 1996. Chase-Riboud is also a renowned sculptor whose award-winning monuments grace Lower Manhattan. She is the rare living artist honored with a personal exhibition, “The Monument Drawings,” in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The opera, Portrait of a Nude Woman as Cleopatra is taken from this wonderful book of poems. The opera’s libretto is a Dialogue of Sensuality that provides insights into the main characters’ thoughts and emotions. The Setting is a timeless gathering place evoking images of real and shadowy beings or spirits depicting the emotion and thoughts of the texts being sung by Cleopatra, Marc Antony and the Greek Chorus while conveying the sentiments, sensations and passions suggested by the music performed by the live jazz quartet and chamber ensemble on stage. The libretto represents Flash Points of Destiny for the main characters.
Ms. Chase-Riboud says:
“The genesis of my interest in Cleopatra is based on my fascination with POWER as wielded by women throughout the ages. The concept of women ruling the earth and shaping society in immutable ways continues to be a revolutionary idea even though it has been a fact for eons. The exceptional woman -- a woman of legendary status -- is the essence of what Cleopatra is. She is an icon for modern women.”
Librettist Barbara Chase-Riboud is a Carl Sandberg Prize–winning poet and the prizewinning author of four acclaimed, widely translated historical novels, the bestselling Sally Hemings, Valide: A Novel of a Harem, Echo of Lions (about the Amistad mutiny), and The President’s Daughter, a prequel to Sally Hemings.
She is a winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and received a knighthood in arts and letters from the French government in 1996. Chase-Riboud is also a renowned sculptor whose award-winning monuments grace Lower Manhattan. She is the rare living artist honored with a personal exhibition, “The Monument Drawings,” in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.