Mezzo Marion Newman stars as explorer Isabelle Eberhardt, in Song From the Uproar, February 29 to March 3 at the York Theatre
City Opera stages Canadian premiere of composer Missy Mazzoli’s contemporary work
Marion Newman in Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt. Photo by Diamond’s Edge Photography
City Opera presents Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt, on stage February 29 to March 3, 2024 at the York Theatre.
AN EARLY ANTI-COLONIAL voice, Swiss explorer-journalist Isabelle Eberhardt travelled alone to Algeria in 1897, dressing as a man, joining the Sufi order, and roaming the desert on horesback. It’s a story with operatic drama: she fell in love with an Algerian soldier, survived an assassination attempt, and met her fate in a flash flood.
Now that opera is coming to life, with local mezzo-soprano Marion Newman—an artist of Kwagiulth, Stó:lō, English, Irish, and Scottish heritage, taking the starring role. Newman has played iconic roles like Carmen and Rosina on opera stages, as well as singing in cutting-edge new operas like Missing; she also served as guest curator at the Chan Centre as guest curator in the 2021-22 season.
Staged by City Opera and composed by Missy Mazzoli, the contemporary work plays out as a series of dreamlike vignettes, the audience witnessing key moments in Eberhardt’s life, including her journeys in the North African desert and her ecstatic religious conversion—all boosted by film and photo projections, and the prolific writings of Eberhardt herself.
American composer Missy Mazzoli collaborated with Canadian Royce Vavrek on the Song From the Uproar’s libretto. The show also features mezzo Katie Fraser (who recently starred in UBC Opera’s Cendrillon), sopranos Christina Demeo and Emma Jang, tenor Kiho Sohn, and bass Jason Somerville.
City Opera's new music director Gordon Gerrard conducts, with a top-notch creative team that includes movement by former Ballet BC and Kidd Pivot dancer-choreographer Livona Ellis, costumes by Alaia Hamer, and sets and projections by Wladimiro A. Woyno Rodriguez and Katayoon Yousefbigloo. 
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