Rajiv Joseph's spare libretto, based on the book by Salman Rushdie, is full of gifts for an opera composer: love triangle with dancer, acrobat, and ambassador; vaudevillian rehearsal; over-the-top wedding; lonely hotel seduction; and Anarkali's dance -- a grand Khatak show-within-a-show. Rushdie's novel, not at all spare, is part Hindu/Muslim Romeo and Juliet, part Himalayan Paradise Lost -- a meditation on the personal as political, and an allegory of the danger of innocence. The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis commissioned composer Jack Perla to write Shalimar the Clown and this world premiere recording was made in 2016. Perla has steadily forged a reputation for his unique cross-fertilization of jazz, improvisation, and classical music. Librettist Rajiv Joseph is a New York-based playwright who has been called "daring, magnificent, and virtuosic." The recipient of numerous awards, Shalimar the Clown is Mr. Joseph's first opera libretto.

Artists

Sean Panikkar, Gregory Dahl, Andriana Chuchman, Joshua Blue, Rafael Helbig-Kostka, Samuel Wiser, Benjamin Taylor, Hannah Dishman, Thomas Hammons, Jenni Bank, Geoffrey Agpaio, Geoffrey Agpalo, Elliot Paige, Justin Austin, Aubrey Allicock, Katharine Goeldner, Robert Mellon, Joshua Wheeker, Gina Perregrino, Eric Ferring

Jayce Ogren