Throughout the end of his life, Alexander Scriabin attempted to realize a week-long ceremony intended to drive the world to its ultimate conclusion. This project was suddenly cut short in 1915 when Scriabin died of sepsis from an infected pimple on his lip. As the subject for an opera, I became interested with what happened though him during his last hours. Much of this piece was informed by Scriabin’s text for his Prefatory Action, intended as a preliminary to the final work. What is left of his project at the moment of his death opens up a more authentic image of the world’s end: saturated, unresolved and external.
Composer/librettist - Antonio Sanz Escallón
Producer - Antonio Sanz Escallón
Conductor - Claire Lewis
Alexander Scriabin - Jason Gonzalez
Tatiana Schloezer - Cassie Dixon, Sophia Sorrentino
Leonid Sabaneev - Joseph Richwine
Doctor - Roy Li
Flute - Matthew Ober
Clarinet - Olivia Harrison
Trombones - Haodong Yang, Christian Hizon
Percussion - Jacob Kline, Nupur Thakkar, Matthew Enfinger
Electronics - Alexander Wu
Piano - Kaysi Yearous
Violins - Heeyun Cho, Isabel Rushall
Viola - Kate Reynolds
Bass - Noah Sapp
Recorded Text - Arin Shahjahanian
Audio/Video Recording - Aaron Zimmer
Editing - Aaron Zimmer, Ling DeBellis
Subtitles - Ling DeBellis
Lighting - Natalie Colony, Francesca Hellerman
Special Thanks to Greg Hays, Kevin Puts, Tony Arnold, Randall Scarlata, Ah Young Hong, Jacob Kline, Emma Tucker
Made possible with support from The Five College New Music Festival Award The Peabody Institute Career Development Grant