New York City Opera is staging what it calls a monodrama featuring words by the Irish writer Samuel Beckett set to music.
The piece is a one-act opera called Neither. The music was written by Morton Feldman.
Beckett is one Ireland’s greatest ever writers and is perhaps best known for his play, Waiting for Godot.
Beckett met Feldman in 1976 when he was working at the Schiller Theater in Berlin.
Feldman asked Beckett to write some words for a piece of music commissioned by the Rome Opera. Beckett was reluctant at first but eventually obliged with a poem called Neither.
Feldman then wrote the music, arranged for a chamber orchestra and soprano. The work is being perfomed throughout March by the New York City Orchestra.
Check here for dates if you would like to hear this remarkable music.
