2 sopranos, tenor, baritone, fl (pic, afl), ob, cl (bcl), hp, pf, 2perc, 2vn, va, vc, cb
Dedicated, with admiration and gratitude, to the sixteen virtuosi and conductor Timothy Weiss, who were the first to embody and perform these scenes, and to Phil Pierick, Siobhan O’Connell, MERITO. The sixteen virtuosi were Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, Soprano; Ariana Strahl, Soprano; Justin Berkowitz, Tenor; Nick Ward, Baritone; Sasha Ishov, Flute; Katie Jimoh, Clarinet; John Corkill, Greg Beyer, Percussion; Ben Melsky, Harp; Daniel Pesca, Piano; Hanna Hurwitz, Theo Ramsey, Violins; Doyle Arbmrust, Viola; and Nick Photinos, Cello.
Thanks to the multi-talented Phil Pierick, manager of the video and audio recording session, to intern from Oberlin College Francesca Neibel-Spruill, for her exceptional and invaluable help, to Lucas Kim for his many administrative and musical wisdoms and supports, and from Peter O'Brien to Anna Skorzewska, for her multitudinous inspirations.
World Premiere of Video: October 1, 2026
Duration: 40 minutes
Enchanted Labyrinths is based on the libretto (Toronto, 2022-ongoing) by Thomas Peter O’Brien, steeped in the “Anna Livia Plurabelle” chapter of Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, and drawing out and upon some of the 3,000+ references to opera that he fused into his flourishing text.
“I started reading Finnegans Wake in Dublin, and I’ve been reading the text for about 48 years. The book is the most inviting and entangling collection of words that we have. I am continuously finding new shards of linguistic musicality, new historic (and hysteric) reverberations, new ways to appreciate its chameleonic charms. As the first opera based on this protean text, Enchanted Labyrinths invites audiences into its endlessly fascinating rites, rituals, and riches.” — Thomas Peter O’Brien
I: INTO THE LABYRINTH — in medias res
II: INDEED, FINNEGANS DO WAKE — PLURABELLE KALEIDOSCOPE #1
III: LATIN ME THAT — PLURABELLE KALEIDOSCOPE #2
IV: 100-LETTER THUNDERWORD — PLURABELLE KALEIDOSCOPE #3
V: PLURABELLE ENCHANTING
VI: STRATEGIC TILTS — PLURABELLE KALEIDOSCOPE #4
VII: SHEM & SHAUN : NORMA & AIDA — PLURABELLE KALEIDOSCOPE #5
VIII: ROOTS IN EARTH
IX: RIVERS OF DREAMS
Scenes can be performed as stand-alone works or in any combination of a subset of selected scenes. All subsets can be played in any order.
“Composing for voice is a huge passion and as a result, one of the largest portions of my creative catalogue is music for voice(s). The human voice — the most subtle, complex, and fragile, yet also forceful, flexible, seductive, and persuasive carrier of musical ideas and meanings — has always been an inspiration for and an influence upon my musical thinking. I scat, vocalize, and sing as I compose. When musicians ask me a question, I often scat or sing the answer.”— Augusta Read Thomas
- Composer and Librettist
- PLURABELLE Resources
- Instrumentation, Performance Notes, etc.
- Annotated Libretto
- Thematic Material
- Friends and Supporters
Ariana Strahl
Nicholas Ward
Artwork by Thomas Peter O’Brien from Lots of Fun With Finnegans Wake (2016 - ) To obtain examination or performance material for this
Augusta Read Thomas work, please contact Nimbus Music Publishing.
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