The Gospel of Mary Magdalene

Nathan Gunn as Yeshua and Sasha Cooke in the title rôle of "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene." Portrait for San Francisco Opera by J. Henry Fair, New York, November 2012.

In January 2009, San Francisco Opera announced the commission of “The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.”  The première has been scheduled for June 19, 2013: Sasha Cooke takes the title rôle, opposite the Yeshua of Nathan Gunn, while Maria Kanyova plays Yeshua’s mother Miriam and William Burden plays his disciple Peter;  Kevin Newbury directs,  and Michael Christie conducts.  The author and annotator Thomas May, whose 2002 article (for andante.com)  on Little Women and other new operas made a gracious and lucid argument for that score, has written for the November issue of San Francisco Opera’s magazine a preview piece (.pdf)  on the opera.  Tom is the author of Decoding Wagner: An Invitation to His World of Music-Drama, and The John Adams Reader: Essential Writings on an American Composer; his article makes as eloquent an introduction to the world of the piece as one could wish. More here.