music by Hans Werner Henze
directed by Zack Winokur
Davóne Tines, bass-baritone
Emy Ferguson, flute
Jonny Allen, percussion
Jordan Dodson, guitar (guest artist)
John Torres, lighting design
Carlos Soto, costume design
Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, May 10 & 11, 2019
Hans Werner Henze's EL CIMARRÓN (The Runaway Slave) is a tour-de-force sonic onslaught based on the oral autobiography of Esteban Montejo, an Afro-Cuban slave who escaped bondage on a sugar plantation, survived in the jungle, fought for Cuban independence from Spain, and lived to tell about it all before dying at the age of 113. Henze's visceral score is a cry for freedom that transcends time and place—and a linchpin in Julia Bullock's vision for her season as Artist in Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
4 Musicians Chart 100 Years in the Life of a Runaway Slave - The New York Times
“spellbinding…a true ensemble performance” - Financial Times
“a searing portrait of a man sizing up slavery in all forms” - Musical America
photos Stephanie Berger