The Blind
op. 58 (2001)2S.2M.2A.2T.2Bar.2B (6 solo voices with chorus)
Abbreviations (PDF)
Sikorski
The special thing about Lera Auerbach's ‘The Blind’, based on a subject by Maurice Maeterlinck, is that the audience is in the dark for the duration of the performance. In addition, the cast is a first in the history of the genre.
Lera Auerbach about "The Blind":
"This is a perfect anti-opera, was my first thought. This is crazy, there is no a cappella opera, it's simply not possible, was my second thought. And before I realised it, I started sketching out the libretto and the thematic material. A few weeks later, I had a complete manuscript of the opera. To this day, it is one of the strangest creations in my catalogue. It wasn't commissioned, nobody seemed to want it. So it initially disappeared into my desk, where it remained for many years until 2011, when the Berlin Chamber Opera learnt of its existence and asked for the score."