Polymnia

Polymnia, described by Opera News as “haunting and beautiful,” is a debut experimental chamber opera that tells the story of a woman who responds with resilience to war and trauma, and relates how her experience echoes across generations and communities. Drawing from fragments of Sappho’s poetry, Kassiane’s hymns, as well as four generations of private family writings and oral history, composer and performer Theodosia Roussos shares the story of her great-grandmother Polymnia Athanasiadis Pappas, a young woman whose family was expelled from its village by the Ottoman Turks during the Asia Minor Catastrophe. Roussos draws influence from her Greek Cypriot American background and weaves elements of Byzantine and Greek folk music into the score.

Presented in both Greek and English, Polymnia reveals the very personal and also political experience of diaspora—what is lost, what is retained, and what cannot be forgotten.

Theodosia Roussos, composer/librettist
Michiel Delanghe, conductor
Diana Wyenn, director
Tanya Orellana, scenic designer
Pablo Santiago, lighting designer
Yee Eun Nam, video designer
Wendell C. Carmichael, costume designer
Peter Kazaras and Diana Wyenn, dramaturgy

Cast

Theodosia Roussos, Polymnia/Theodosia
Natalie Buickians, Paula
Michele Patzakis, Maria/Church Lady
Anthony Moreno, Nikolaos
Joanna Lynn-Jacobs, Anthie
Jon Lee Keenan, Costa/Tax Collector/Turkish Soldier

Polymnia is produced by Plain Wood Productions.

For inquiries, please contact hellenic@humnet.ucla.edu.