The Seven Deadly Sins / The Human Voice

One woman, one journey, two operas...The Seven Deadly Sins, with music by Kurt Weill and libretto by Bertolt Brecht, isa biting and sharp-edged satire of ambition and self-betrayal, set to a score steepedin Weimar cabaret and 1930s American jazz.

Anna is split into two halves of onesoul as her family sends her on a seven-year odyssey through the cities of America,chasing the money for a house back home.The Human Voice, with music by Francis Poulenc and libretto by Jean Cocteau, isa harrowing one-woman opera, unfolding through a single, unbroken phone call thatbecomes the last conversation of a love affair.

Alone in her apartment, Elle waits forher former lover to ring, and when he finally does, the small talk gives way tosomething far darker.

Poulenc’s score moves with the broken rhythm of speech itself,tender and devastating by turns.

As the call falters and reconnects, one questionpresses harder than any other: how do you say goodbye to someone who is alreadygone?Performed together, these works trace a continuous psychological portrait of awoman pushed to her limits — one through the cities of an American odyssey, theother through the silences of a single phone line.

Both pair celebrated composerswith extraordinary literary collaborators: Weill with Brecht, and Poulenc withCocteau.