The Tempest Songbook

A Music, Dance and Video Show

Premiere: Metropolitan Museum, New York, March 27th, 28th & 29th, 2015


Music: Henry Purcell & Kaija Saariaho

Conductor: Neal Goren

Jennifer Zetlan, soprano

Thomas Richards, bass-baritone


Direction, Choreography & Scenic Design: Luca Veggetti

Dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company:

Peiju Chien-Pott, Abdiel Jacobsen, Lloyd Mayor, and Ying Xin


Video Conception & Realization: Jean-Baptiste Barrière

Cameras: Isabelle Barrière, Computer Video Assistant: Thomas Goepfer


Scenic & Lighting Design: Clifton Taylor

Costume Design: Peter Speliopoulos


Production: Gotham Chamber Opera, with the Martha Graham Dance Company


The Tempest Songbook is a music, dance and video show, build on a musical braid interweaving some of the incidental music for Shakespeare's The Tempest (composed in 1695 and attributed to Henry Purcell), and Kaija Saariaho's Tempest Songbook for soprano, baritone, and period instrument ensemble, presented by the Gotham Chamber Opera in its U.S. and World Stage premieres at the Metropolitan Museum’s Auditorium.

 The Tempest Songbook explores freely the themes of Shakespeare's play, creating a lyrical vision through music, dance, and video.


Still images illustrating the different roles of the video in the show

Photos by Chris Jones emphasizing singers and dancers