Judgment of Midas
Judgment of Midas, with music by Kamran Ince and libretto by Miriam Seidel, premiered in Milwaukee in April 2013. It was produced by Present Music with the Milwaukee Opera Theatre, and performed at the Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Kamran Ince conducted the Present Music Ensemble, expanded to include five Turkish musicians playing traditional instruments. The performance was directed by Jill Anna Ponasik. Melik/Midas: Matthew DiBattista, Franny: Abigail Fischer, Theo: Gregory Gerbrandt, Pan: Jennifer Goltz, Tmolus: Mikhail Svetlov, Apollo: Philip Horst
Half-hour excerpt from Judgment of Midas performed at Opera America’s New Works Forum, New York, including interview with Kamran and Miriam:
Press
“…An orgiastic climax as crazed and hair-raising as anything I’ve heard in all of opera… fabulous orchestral color… This composer’s limitless sonic imagination has wrought one amazement after another.… Librettist Miriam Seidel gave Ince an ideal platform for his style… [and] also gave her characters marvelously witty lines…”
- Third Coast Daily
New Opera both elegant and rowdy at Present Music — Tom Strini, Third Coast Daily
Present Music takes on opera in Ince’s ‘Judgment of Midas’ — Elaine Schmidt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mythical Battle of Midas: Present Music and Milwaukee Opera Theatre present a world premiere — Joel K. Boyd, Express Milwaukee
Present Music chooses world premiere for its first-ever opera — Michael Muckian, Wisconsin Gazette
Judgment of Midas opera libretto (The Cooperage, 2013)
Includes the libretto, preface by Miriam Seidel, information on the archeological explorations at Sardis, and Afterword by John Shannon. Illustrations from art by Crawford Greenewalt, Jr.
