World Premiere of New Opera/Dance by two Holy Cross Professors

WORCESTER, Mass. – Chitra, a new opera/dance by Holy Cross professors Shirish Korde (chair, music department) and Lynn Kremer (chair, theatre department), will premiere at Holy Cross on April 15th in the Fenwick Theatre.  It also will be performed on April 29th at the Tsai Center in Boston.  Curtain time for both performances is 8:00 p.m.

Korde, a composer of Indian descent, is celebrated for synthesizing music of diverse cultures. Kremer is a stage director who has lived and traveled extensively in Indonesia.  Together they have created a new form borrowing from Western and Eastern cultures.  Chitra marks their seventh collaboration.

Balinese dancer I Nyoman Catra performs with Boston-based Bharat Natyam dancer Tara Ahmed, virtuoso singer Elizabeth Keusch, tabla player Samir Chatterjee, sitar player Peter Row, and Boston Musica Viva in Chitra.  In this richly textured musical fantasy, composer Korde draws on Indian Ragas, tabla drumming, and dance rhythms of India, as well as Balinese vocal styles.  Kremer's concept and direction are inspired by the dance and theatre traditions of South and Southeast Asia.  The performers will be joined onstage by traditional Balinese shadow puppets she commissioned for this original fusion of dance, drama and opera.

Chitra is based on an episode from the Hindu epic The Mahabharata as interpreted by the great Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore.  Chitra, the daughter of the King of Manipur, is brought up as a boy.  Proud of her manly prowess, she falls in love with the demi-god Arjuna with unexpected results.

For ticket information at Holy Cross call 508/793-3490.  Tickets at the Tsai Center are available through Boston Musica Viva at 617/354-6910.  $17 General Admission, $13 Seniors and WGBH Members, and $8 students.  The Tsai Center is wheelchair accessible.