A profound statement on the legacy of race: On the run after a series of tragic incidents, five North Philly teens find refuge in an abandoned, condemned house in West Philadelphia. This self-defined family is assuaged and even inspired by the ghosts who inhabit this home and begin to see their squatting as a matter of destiny and resistance rather than urgent fear. This World Premiere chamber opera by Daniel Bernard Roumain, an acclaimed composer and performer whose work defies genre, and…

In 1985, police ended a standoff with black liberation group MOVE by dropping a bomb on their West Philadelphia headquarters, destroying an entire neighbourhood and killing 11 people, five of them children. 32 years later, five teenagers are on the run from their failing school. Taking refuge in a condemned house, they discover their make-shift home sits in the exact location of the MOVE headquarters. The ghosts of the children killed in the bombing reveal themselves and their story, and…

In 1985, police ended a standoff with black liberation group MOVE by dropping a bomb on their West Philadelphia headquarters, destroying an entire neighbourhood and killing 11 people, five of them children. 32 years later, five teenagers are on the run from their failing school. Taking refuge in a condemned house, they discover their make-shift home sits in the exact location of the MOVE headquarters. The ghosts of the children killed in the bombing reveal themselves and their story, and…

In 1985, police ended a standoff with black liberation group MOVE by dropping a bomb on their West Philadelphia headquarters, destroying an entire neighbourhood and killing 11 people, five of them children. 32 years later, five teenagers are on the run from their failing school. Taking refuge in a condemned house, they discover their make-shift home sits in the exact location of the MOVE headquarters. The ghosts of the children killed in the bombing reveal themselves and their story, and…

In 1985, police ended a standoff with black liberation group MOVE by dropping a bomb on their West Philadelphia headquarters, destroying an entire neighbourhood and killing 11 people, five of them children. 32 years later, five teenagers are on the run from their failing school. Taking refuge in a condemned house, they discover their make-shift home sits in the exact location of the MOVE headquarters. The ghosts of the children killed in the bombing reveal themselves and their story, and…

In 1985, police ended a standoff with black liberation group MOVE by dropping a bomb on their West Philadelphia headquarters, destroying an entire neighbourhood and killing 11 people, five of them children. 32 years later, five teenagers are on the run from their failing school. Taking refuge in a condemned house, they discover their make-shift home sits in the exact location of the MOVE headquarters. The ghosts of the children killed in the bombing reveal themselves and their story, and…

An oratorio differs from an opera in that the performance takes place on a concert stage, without sets, staging, or costumes. It was church doctrine that drove the distinction; many oratorio subjects were drawn from the Bible, and it was considered blasphemous to dramatize them. Handel took up one such tale in 1741, when he received a new libretto from Charles Jennens, a Shakespeare scholar and long-time subscriber to Handel’s published works. Drawing texts from the King James Bible and…

An oratorio differs from an opera in that the performance takes place on a concert stage, without sets, staging, or costumes. It was church doctrine that drove the distinction; many oratorio subjects were drawn from the Bible, and it was considered blasphemous to dramatize them. Handel took up one such tale in 1741, when he received a new libretto from Charles Jennens, a Shakespeare scholar and long-time subscriber to Handel’s published works. Drawing texts from the King James Bible and…