Jacqueline

Jacqueline is a powerful, award-winning new opera that explores the real struggle between the famous cellist Jacqueline du Pré and the multiple sclerosis that devastated her body, mind and talent and robbed her of her identity, her breathtaking musical talent and ultimately her life. The story is brought to life by the acclaimed American soprano Marnie Breckenridge (as Jacqueline) and former protégé of Jacqueline du Pré and world-renowned cellist Matt Haimovitz, who plays the role of her constant companion: her cello. The GRAMMY-nominated composer Luna Pearl Woolf and Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Royce Vavrek sketch the development of a great prodigy and, ultimately, a great tragedy. The opera is told in four parts - I. Star Birth; II. Supernova; III. Meteorite; IV. Impact - and references Haimovitz' personal memories of du Pré herself. The form of the work is colorful and sometimes humorous, raw, joyful and daring, reminiscent of du Pré's iconic interpretation of Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto. The four-part structure of the concerto serves to describe a prismatic and passionate, albeit all too brief, life in the music.