Caitlin Hammon portrays Nameless Second, and David Tahere is Adam in Tim Hinck's new opera, "Eve Apart." Members of the chorus include, in back, Marianna Allen, Michael Dexter, Laura Sage and Blaine Tooley.IF YOU GO• What: "Eve Apart"• When: 8 p.m. today, Sept. 4 (with opening-night reception at 7); 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Sept. 5-6; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7• Where: Chattanooga Theatre Centre's Circle Theatre, 400 River St.• Admission: $25 today-Saturday, $12.50 and $25 Sunday• Phone: 423-267-8534• Website: www.theatrecentre.com
It's doubtful Lilith has ever been mentioned in Sunday School although the Dead Sea Scrolls mention her in a long list of terrifying dangers that includes "destroying angels, spirits, demons, Lilith, howlers."
She is a magnetic figure in Jewish folklore, the night demon whose unearthly beauty almost lured Adam away from Eve. Romantic poets like Robert Browning reshaped her persona, making Lilith a more sympathetic supernatural creature.
But the tales of Lilith are always too eerie to be a rom-com love story.
Now it's an original opera making its world premiere at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre. Called "Eve Apart," the production will be presented in four performances today through Sunday, Sept. 4-7. The production travels to Pittsburgh after its Chattanooga run.
Presented by the CTC and local opera company Artisti Affamati, the 90-minute, multimedia work was written by composer Tim Hinck, the music director for CTC's popular production of "Les Misérables." The libretto is by Kip Soteres.
Featured performers are Sara Snider Schone, Desiree Soteres, David Tahere, Michael Dexter, Laura Sage, Caitlin Hammon, Marianna Allen, Jason O'Neal and Blaine Tooley. They'll be accompanied by six instrumentalists.
"This is an opera that seems, at first, like a simple, beautiful chamber opera: cascading musical lines reminiscent of Ravel, and the harmonies recall the Russian Romantic masters," Hinck says in a statement. "But suddenly you realize that this is a world of sights and sounds unlike anything you have seen or heard. Dreamlike layers of subtle, electronic sounds descend on this 'classical' opera; the playful entrances of a toy piano, the ominous brake drum and echoes of an electronically sampled 'computer choir' create an enchanting sound world that you won't soon forget."