"Night comes but not sleep. What are those sparks? Rats feeding on electricity. What is that sound? Rats digesting concrete." This is but a small sample of Martin Crimp's libretto to George Benjamin's eerie, utterly disturbing chamber opera Into the Little Hill, which I caught last night at the Lincoln Center Festival. The final performance is tonight, and if I weren't going to take in pianist Marc-André Hamelin I would probably return for a second hearing.
Singers Anu Komsi (soprano) and Hilary Summers (contralto) were spellbinding playing multiple roles, as were the musicians of Ensemble Modern (using totally cool paperless, digital music stands), who brought out every tiny rustle in Benjamin's gorgeous score. The superb conductor was Stockholm-based Franck Ollu, as riveting as anyone else onstage.
[Photo: Temple of Rats at Bikaner, India from www.hat.net]
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