I’ve been kinda stoked for La Suspendida ever since I got my first taste with Kilter’s EP The Suspended Woman, featuring Andromeda Anarchia.
With libretto by William Berger and led by Laurent David of Kilter, La Suspendida is an experimental and collaborative opera involving a diverse array of musicians and artists. Among them are Kenny Grohowski from Imperial Triumphant, Ed Rosenberg III, soprano Andromeda Anarchia, the string quartet SEVEN)SUNS, and the metal vocalists of the Growlers Choir.
Following her demise, protagonist Maria Elena Milagros finds herself suspended between life and death.
William says this about the opera,
“La Suspendida is an opera in jazz and metal. In telling its story of a relationship that extends beyond death, it extends what we mean by opera, jazz, and metal, even while honoring and reveling in those traditions. The drama is based on a notorious incident in history: a doctor whose obsession with a beautiful young patient of his was so great that he kept her body as his lover after her untimely death. The originality of La Suspendida is in seeing this gruesome tale from a more sympathetic point of view – it is told from the perspective of the woman, Maria Elena, and dares to speculate on her journey after death not as a victim but as an expression of self-determination. What if Maria Elena wanted it all this way?”
With a diverse musical palette ranging from unconventional melodies to the powerful rhythms of metal, the opera vividly portrays Maria’s odyssey among the deceased.
William further elaborates,
“To explore this, the opera is composed for a remarkable ensemble versed in classical and non-traditional genres. The emerging project is proving to be a symbiotic composite of traditional and trailblazing that is traversing linguistic, artistic, political, and even existential boundaries.”
Appealing to jazz enthusiasts, opera aficionados, and metal fans alike, La Suspendida offers a compelling exploration of life, death, and the realms in between, inviting audiences to embrace diverse musical styles they may not have encountered before.
Crafted with diligent attention to narrative and music, La Suspendida is bold, adventurous, and audacious in both its storytelling and sound.
Pre-order the La Suspendida double album and The Suspended Woman EP.
