Featuring an all-female cast and creative team, Svadba, by Ana Sokolović, is an a cappella chamber opera that explores themes of transition, telling the story of a young bride preparing for her new life as a married woman. The work dramatizes the traditions, rituals, and celebrations of the young woman and her gathering of close friends. This cinematized production reengages with the work in a multidisciplinary interpretation, telling a visual story through dance and eye-catching cinematography, enhanced by the contemporary tour-de-force score that combines operatic and Balkan folk vocal techniques to create a vivid, onomatopoeic sound world. Director Shura Baryshnikov stays true to the original Serbian folklore and language, enhanced by conductor Daniella Candillari’s Serbian background, while exploring the work through a larger lens — reflecting the variety of personal identities among the diverse all-female cast and creative team to tell a story that explores a deeply rooted feminine perspective.

ABOUT THE PRODUCERS

Svadba is directed by American choreographer Shura Baryshnikov, daughter of the preeminent classical dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and actress Jessica Lange. For this story told primarily through movement, Baryshnikov brings her experience as a dancer, actor, improviser, and choreographer, as well as head of movement and physical theater at Brown University. Her sister, Hannah Shepard, serves as screenwriter for the production. Conducting the music is Daniella Candillari, who brings her Serbian roots to this production, in addition to her vast operatic experience, having conducted the Metropolitan Opera, Detroit Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and more.

Svadbais produced by Boston Lyric Opera, with co-production by Opera Philadelphia, for release on operabox.tv. Now in its 47th season, Boston Lyric Opera is dedicated to creating compelling operatic experiences throughout the greater Boston area that welcome new audiences, break new ground, and enrich community life. Since its founding in 1976, Boston Lyric Opera has produced world and U.S. premieres, Pulitzer Prize-winning operas, and notable commissions and coproductions, ranging from live stage shows to films streamed worldwide.

The Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera are supported by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.