Cracked Orlando
An innovative dramatic work designed specifically for performance in a museum, CRACKED ORLANDO is a delicate mini opera/ballet running approximately forty minutes. Recasting energies and sounds of the Italian Baroque, this composition reforges references to early eighteenth century music through compositional workings based upon fractal geometry. A truly miniature work, aspects of the music and drama are distilled into crystallized moments, ranging from shimmering stasis to mercurial flashes. In keeping with these ideas, the text has been extracted from the libretto originally used by Vivaldi, and regrown using fractal methods as well.
Cracked Orlando from the epic fantastic tale by Ariosto, tells the story of Orlando, who in love with Angelica, pursues her to the island of the sorcerer Alcina, only to discover that she truly loves Medoro. Trapped within Alcina’s enchanted realm and distraught with profound jealousy and despair he is taken by great madness. His sickness resolves only when Alcina’s power is broken, all illusions are lifted, and her lush island is revealed as the barren desert it truly is.
Credits:
Cracked Orlando
Dramma per Musica e Fractals BY JONATHAN DAWE
2010
SECOND INSTRUMETAL UNIT
DAVID FULMER, director
AUSTIN McCORMICK, director
Audio:
Cosi Potessi from Cracked Orlando
Rachel Calloway, mezzo-soprano
