Opera Preview: The Immortal Legacy of Gilgamesh - Reservations Closed
Date and Time
Location
Reservations Closed; Walk-ins Not Permitted
Thursday, November 20, 5:30–8:00 pm
Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
Join us for an exclusive preview of a brand-new opera inspired by the timeless Epic of Gilgamesh, in the museum’s Mesopotamian gallery.
Commissioned by the Assyrian Arts Institute, this special program offers an exclusive preview of a new opera inspired by the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh. Audiences will experience the opera’s prologue and select musical scenes from the production which is slated to premiere in 2026 in Cerritos, California. The opera explores timeless themes of friendship, courage, love, mortality, and divine destiny.
The event will also feature a short talk by Eckart Frahm, John M. Musser Professor of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at Yale University. He will discuss the original Gilgamesh tablets and the excavation of King Ashurbanipal’s Royal Library at Nineveh, drawing insights from his recent book, Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire.
Opera Leadership and Creative Team
- Commissioner: Assyrian Arts Institute
- Nora Betyousef Lacey, Executive Producer; Founder and Executive Director, Assyrian Arts Institute
- Derrick Skye, Music Composer and Conductor; Artistic Director of Bridge to Everywhere Ensemble
- Diana Farrell, Artistic Director and Librettist; Founding Artistic Director of Lyric Opera of Orange County
- Dr. Eve Sada, Ethnomusicologist, Dramaturg and Cultural Advisor; Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School.
Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage 4:30–9:30 pm.
Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, with support from ArtsThursdays—a university-wide initiative supported by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts, the Assyrian Arts Institute, the Mishael and Lillie Naby Assyrian Lecture Fund of Harvard’s Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations Department, the Naby Frye Assyrian Fund for Culture, the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, the Assyrian American Association of Massachusetts, and the Nineveh Chair, University of Salamanca.
