The Life to Come (in progress)

The Life to Come is a new opera based on the short story by E.M. Forster. Originally written in 1922, it was described by the author as coming “more from my heart than anything else I have been able to turn out,” containing “a great deal of sorrow and passion that I have myself experienced.” Unable to be published until after his death in 1970 because of its explicit interracial homosexuality, the opera recasts Forster’s story as a tale about colonial violence, queerness, and the birth of love, in Forster’s words, “for good or evil.” Love that, for Vanessa Place, the renowned lesbian poet and librettist for this project, also insists on the possibility of beauty. The piece is scored for Talea’s core instrumentation - violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, horn, trombone, piano, and percussion - with additional instruments including percussion 2 and harp, and the requisite vocal parts as established in the libretto. The entire work is set over three acts, approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes in duration