The Dybbuk
The Dybbuk Project, documentation from a performance in Michelstadt, Germany. August, 2008.
“This opera has one more star than the ones we get to watch act or hear sing: Sheri Wills. The entire performance is played out on either side of two scrims that showcase an amazing collection of videos and stills, virtually the entire set except for one table that gets pushed around a lot. Sometimes it’s abstract light or color that fills these scrims – sometimes with the lovers separated on either side, meaningfully – sometimes its dramatic forms, and sometimes it’s highly representational: trees in a forest here or, naturally, an ancient-looking Jewish graveyard there. Especially in the opera’s early going, when there is so little action, what happens on the scrims is what keeps our eyes arrested.” Houston Arts Week, Nov 15, 2009, (John DeMers)
The Dybbuk: Between Two Worlds, (Ofer Ben Amots, composer/librettist, 2007), is a chamber opera with live video performance, by NYC artist, Sheri Wills. It is based on the classic Yiddish play, by S. Ansky. Excerpts from the performance in Montreal, Canada in January 2008; Michelstadt, Germany in August, 2008; and Houston, Texas in November 2009. Yahli Toren, soprano (Montreal & Michelstadt)/Misha Penten, soprano (Houston); Jeremy Wilhelm, baritone, Gilad Harel, clarinet (Houston), Tom Lindblade, director (Montreal)/Jeremy Wilhelm, director (Michelstadt and Houston).