Susannah

Music and libretto by Carlisle FloydConducted by Yves AbelDirected by Patricia Racette Eighteen-year-old Susannah Polk lives with her brother Sam in the woods outside a Tennessee mountain town. When local churchmen spot her bathing in an isolated creek, she becomes the target of gossip, accusations, and worse. Carlisle Floyd transplants the biblical “Susannah and the Elders” to the Appalachian backwoods in this modern classic: a riveting tale of sex, corruption, and hypocrisy with a folk-inspired score and the beloved aria “Ain’t it a pretty night?” Floyd’s centenary is the perfect time to experience the opera Gramophone calls “an important work within modern American opera” and Opera Today dubs the “operatic equivalent of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Please Note: We strongly encourage you to arrive early, as Latecomers are subject to a seating hold and will be asked to wait in the lobby until Intermission.