UNRULY SUN

A theatrical song cycle for tenor, piano and chamber ensemble inspired by Modern Nature, a memoir by filmmaker and queer activist, Derek Jarman.

Matthew Ricketts, composer
Mark Campbell, libretto
Karim Sulayman, tenor
Konstantin Soukhovetski, piano
Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, Phil Nuzzo, conductor

ALSO ON THE PROGRAM:

AARON COPLAND EL SALÓN MÉXICO
Adam Tendler, Piano and Konstantin Soukhovetski, Piano

Unruly Sun draws its inspiration from Modern Nature, the popular memoir by filmmaker and queer activist Derek Jarman. In his book, Jarman documents his life at Prospect Cottage, a fishing shack on the desolate southern coast of England that he purchased after being diagnosed with AIDS. The years are 1989 and 1990, and Jarman’s graceful entries wander between the past and present, activism and art, dying and daffodils. The poetic and witty narrative of the hour-long Unruly Sun unfolds in the same way, as its protagonist subtly switches from third to first person, and in nineteen songs explores outrage about Thatcherism, a criminal crow, mourning friends dying of AIDS, cruising in Hampstead Heath, love and caregiving, a tedious porn movie, and in the work’s climactic moment—a stay at St. Mary’s Hospital where Jarman faces mortality with humor and strength.

“Campbell’s poetry is poignant, and Ricketts’ music carries it with undeniable momentum. The aesthetic of the whole oscillates between a profoundly contemporary rooting and a melancholy lyricism that is reminiscent of Schubert’s Winterreise…”—Revue L’Opéra