Opera Barbarians
World renowned composer Philip Glass received a 15 minute long standing ovation in Germany this week. It was at the world premiere of his new opera ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’. The opera does not try to encompass one culture or time period in history but to present civil rights in a timeless way.
Here ‘barbarians’ are tortured and treated as second class citizens by the ‘white’ ruling elite. It is based on the novel by South African JM Coetzee.
Glass previously said he saw the opera as a critique of President Bush’s administration and its war against Iraq.
It will be interesting what Americans will make of it when it is performed in Texas - Bush’s heartland - next January.
News Source: BBC News