Production Sponsor
The Falling and the Rising
Music by Zach Redler Libretto by Jerre Dye
Sung in English
Friday, November 10, 2023 • 7:30 pm
Saturday, November 11, 2023 • 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 12, 2023 • 2:30 pm
Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy
516 South 9th Street, Boise
Run Time: Approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes, no intermission.
Dedicated to Sergeant First Class Ben Hilgert
Co-Commissioned by Seattle Opera, San Diego Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Memphis, Texas Christian University, Seagle Music Colony and US Army Field Band and Soldier’s Chorus
Tracing the inner journey of a comatose soldier after she suffers a roadside attack, The Falling and the Rising is an operatic story of service and sacrifice. As the soldier moves through her unconscious dreamscape, the audience will serve as both companion and witness, sharing powerful encounters with fellow service members along the way.
Originally created from interviews with active-duty soldiers and veterans, the opera serves as an ode to American service members, shining a light on their often untold stories.
Cast
Bridgette Gan
Soldier
Kristen Choi
Toledo
Jeffrey Seppala
Colonel
Camron Gray*
Jumper
Grant Jackson*
Homecoming Soldier
*Opera Idaho Emerging Artist
Artistic Staff
Joshua Horsch
Conductor
Gordon Reinhart
Stage Director
Synopsis
The Falling and the Rising centers around a strong female hero known only as “Soldier”. After sending a video message home on the eve of her daughter’s thirteenth birthday, our soldier is severely wounded by a roadside IED. Doctors quickly place her in an induced coma to help minimize the extensive trauma to her brain. The soldier must now make an arduous journey towards both healing and home. The Falling and the Rising chronicles the imagined journey of a soldier suspended inside a coma. We follow as she makes her way through a miraculous coma-induced dreamscape- one punctuated with the lives of other fellow service members, each on their own individual journey toward healing and home. Together, they must move toward clarity, comfort, consciousness, and communal hope during a time of adversity. This operatic soldier’s odyssey was created in hopes of capturing the indomitable spirit of our U.S. military veterans and to shed light on the inspirational power of their often overlooked stories. The Falling and the Rising is a story of family, service, and sacrifice inside a period of great uncertainty.
