CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS

Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 8pm Thursday, October 27, 2011, 8pm Friday, October 28, 2011, 8pm Saturday, October 29, 2011, 8pm Zellerbach Playhouse Desdemona Pascal Victor

Written by Toni Morrison Music by Rokia Traoré Directed by Peter Sellars

United States Premiere

Desdemona was commissioned and is co-produced by Cal Performances; Wiener Festwochen, Vienna; Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York; Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH—spielzeit’europa/Berliner Festspiele; and Barbican, London (with the support of Arts Council London and London 2012 Festival). These performances are made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Deborah and Bob Van Nest and Rockridge Market Hall. Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

CAL PERFORMANCES 5 CAST DIRECTOR’S NOTE

his evening is a literary and musical Tcollaboration between Toni Morrison and Rokia Traoré, moving across continents, shared histories, imagined “other worlds” and the permanently open-ended poetry of William Shakespeare’s Othello. In Act I, Shakespeare has Othello tell the Venetian Senate that he and Desdemona fell in love as he told her stories—stories of his youth as a child soldier, stories of suffering, reversal, privation, salvation, transformation and hu- man generosity. Stories of “other worlds.” Toni Morrison wanted to write those stories. Late in Act IV, Shakespeare has Desdemona sing her famous “Willow Song.” She learned this song, she tells Emilia, from her nurse, Barbary, who died singing it, of a broken heart. In these few lines, Shakespeare offers a powerful image: in Shakespeare’s England, “Barbary” meant “Africa.” Courageous, loving, independent- minded Desdemona was raised by an African woman, growing up with African stories and Pascal Victor learning African songs. Shakespeare did not know any Africans. Desdemona Today, at the outset of the 21st century, Africa is very present in the world, and our shared worlds CAST have greater proximity and interpenetration than even Shakespeare could have imagined in Toni Morrison author his “Globe.” “Barbary” is one of Shakespeare’s Peter Sellars director powerful and enigmatic “missing women”—he did not write for her, possibly because he could Rokia Traoré composer, Barbary not write for her. Tonight, we meet her, and Tina Benko Desdemona Desdemona meets her again. Four hundred years later, Toni Morrison Mamah Diabaté n’goni and Rokia Traoré can respond to Shakespeare’s Fatim Kouyaté singer Othello, offering some missing pieces and wider Bintou Soumbounou singer perspectives. The women now have the scope to Kadiatou Sangaré singer speak their minds and their hearts, and Africa is Mamadyba Camara kora real, not just imagined. The women speak to us from the other side of the grave, older now, no James F. Ingalls lighting designer longer teenagers. In African traditions, the dead Alexis Giraud sound designer are quite undead and very present, and for them, as Toni Morrison says, the past and the future Diane J. Malecki producer are the same. In a time outside of time that illu- Anne Dechêne production stage manager minates and infuses the present, Des-demon-a confronts her “demons,” reconciling the past Janet Takami assistant stage manager and now, no longer alone, preparing a future.

This program is approximately two hours long and will be performed without intermission. Peter Sellars

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Mr. Sellars. “Desdemona is one example of us be- It is Desdemona’s prior familiarity with this ing partners in commissioning a major new con- African heritage, so Desdemona suggests, that tribution to the repertoire,” Mr. Tarnopolsky allows her to recognize Othello’s own history told me. Relevance has been one of five core val- Of moving accidents by flood and field, ues championed by him since he took the helm Of hair-breadth scapes i’ th’ imminent of Berkeley’s leading arts organization in 2009. deadly breach, “The performing arts,” he emphasized, “really Of being taken by the insolent foe can shine a light on the world around us.” And sold to slavery, of my redemption This project aims to rescue from obscurity thence.... Othello, 1.3.135–38 “Barbary,” the character whose “Willow Song” (adapted by Shakespeare from a popular English Mr. Sellars proposed the collaboration with tune) rises to Desdemona’s memory as a pre- Rokia Traoré, he told me, because the project monition of her imminent death. Up to now, “required a voice of an African woman to speak attentive readers have only known Barbary as as an African woman and to sing as an African Desdemona’s mother’s “maid.” Invented by woman. Rokia was the logical choice because Shakespeare, she is missing from his Italian Rokia is a completely extraordinary figure.” It source, Giraldi Cinthio’s novella Un capitano was important to him as well as to Ms. Morrison moro (“A Moorish Captain”) (1565), which may that Africa no longer be “ventriloquized” by hearken back to an historical incident of murder Shakespeare, nor even by Ms. Morrison, for in Venice in 1508. But scholars have long rec- that matter. In Desdemona, finally, the voice of ognized that Barbary’s name recalls Iago’s de- “Barbary”—Africa—is…African.

Pascal Victor scription of Othello as a “Barbary horse”—one Ms. Morrison gives her Barbary a real of several equivocal references to Africa in the African name (Sa’ran, or “joy”) to challenge the Reviving Desdemona and Barbary conversation with Ms. Traoré. Having written text. Mr. Sellars explained to me why this term concept—implicit in the name of “Desdemona” about Ms. Morrison’s relationship to music, mattered to Shakespeare: “Two high diplomats (“misery”)—that culturally assigned identities My mother had a maid call’d Barbary: I was intrigued by this new work combining from the Barbary Coast came to London in fix our doom. Barbary is performed by world She was in love, and he she loved proved mad music with dramatic dialogue. Previously, I in- 1600 to meet with Queen Elizabeth. And it was music sensation Rokia Traoré and Desdemona And did forsake her: she had a song of “Willow,” terviewed Ms. Morrison concerning her opera the first time Londoners saw Africans of high by American actress Tina Benko. Originally An old thing ’twas, but it express’d her fortune, libretto for Margaret Garner (2005), which re- degree, and that was widely commented on in from Mali, Ms. Traoré sings (in her native And she died singing it. That song tonight visits the historic case of a fugitive slave whose the British press at the time. So for Shakespeare Bambara and some French) her own songs Will not go from my mind; I have much to do, untold story she first imagined in her Pulitzer to use the term ‘Barbary’ in 1603 was extremely together with music she revises from the an- But to go hang my head all at one side, Prize-winning novel Beloved (1987). I recently vivid.” In those same years, the Queen sought cient griot tradition in which she is schooled. And sing it like poor Barbary. had the opportunity to talk with two members to banish low-placed “Blackamoors” from her The only exception is a one set of lyrics that Othello, 4.3.26–33 of the team that helped bring her Shakespearean realm, and there was public outcry about the Ms. Morrison penned for her in response to the project to fruition: Peter Sellars and Matías enslavement of British sailors by “Barbary” pi- “Willow Song.” Ms. Traoré accompanies herself lways ready to break new artistic ground, Tarnopolsky, who directs Cal Performances. rates. These anxieties complicated the English on acoustic guitar with her small band of tra- ANobel Laureate Toni Morrison has part- I present a glimpse of those conversations in fascination with various dark-skinned peoples ditional string players (the n’goni and kora) and nered with two like-minded innovators— what follows. known from a popular travel literature, which three backup singers. American theater/opera director Peter Sellars Many crises of modern life find a voice in informed Shakespeare’s play, as Mr. Sellars and Built on the backbone of Ms. Morrison’s in- and African singer-songwriter Rokia Traoré— Desdemona, whether the physical and spiritual I also discussed. cisive script, the piece took shape through the to create Desdemona, a provocative reimagining battering of women, the exploitation of child Mr. Sellars’s colleague, Avery Willis, sug- fluid rapport between the writer and composer, of Othello’s tragic representation of the lega- soldiers, dislocations caused by slavery, hunger gested to Ms. Morrison that, by calling the who share compatible artistic values. The art of cies of gender, race and class domination. The and poverty, or racism’s legacy for interpersonal maid “Barbary,” Shakespeare allows us to imag- both women is ambitious yet also personal and Desdemona project grew out of Mr. Sellars’s distrust and cultural alienation. The relevance ine Barbary as herself African, and her songs to intensely lyrical, as they seek to engage us in the dialogue with Ms. Morrison about Othello—to of such themes together with the promise of Desdemona as a medium transmitting another complex issues that engage them. Mr. Sellars which he initially responded by mounting a new artistic excellence originally led the Director history. The idea that Barbary was not just her called the result a “specifically charged feminine production in Vienna for the Vienna Festival of Cal Performances to commit his support to mother’s maid, but also Desdemona’s own nurse, space.... They create a space in their image that in 2009, and she by developing her script in the project two years ago during a meeting with was the creative seed for the Desdemona project. is quiet at their center and infinite at the edges.”

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Mr. Tarnopolsky concurred by describing mo- and epic warriors are important in this tradition, time” by Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand, of staging, their contemplative dialogue allows ments of “great tenderness and visceral force” and she presents both classic and sometimes who saw in her “the best part of America, that them to connect in a way that “spans conti- that transport us on a “real emotional journey” startling new versions here. While facing what’s which founds its love of liberty on the most nents and centuries,” in his view. The meeting with the aid of “gorgeous music,” as witnessed happening in Africa right now, Mr. Sellars re- intense dreams.” Her work with Ms. Traoré is between these women, then, symbolizes a much by the “incredible reception” by the first audi- marked, she “retains this depth of sadness…that one of several musical partnerships that have larger meeting among world cultures, showing ence in Vienna last May. Crediting Mr. Sellars’s feeds your yearning and your sense that the fu- carried her voice into major concert halls and how they are enriched when they encounter each active involvement, he explained how the direc- ture has to be sought out and achieved.” It is this opera houses since the early 1990s. She has other on equal terms. “Shakespeare went out of tor traveled back and forth between Mali and same orientation toward the future, Mr. Sellars collaborated not only with musicians, but also his way,” Mr. Sellars added, “to write stories that the United States to work closely with each artist suggested, that motivates Ms. Morrison’s script: with dancers, visual artists and dramatists (in- were all about how intricately wired and cross- during the genesis of the piece. “Toni reimagines and repositions what is fre- cluding Mr. Sellars) in the Princeton Atelier woven the world is.” He reminded me that there It is fitting that as a singer, Barbary should quently told in Western historical sources as a Program, which she founded while serving as is no better symbol for this exchange than the come to life via Ms. Traoré’s translucent music. story of failure, and let’s you see, actually, the the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Council Bard’s theater, the Globe. By finding a kindred Ms. Traoré has distinguished herself within the human achievement inside what the world has of the Humanities at Princeton University for spirit from Mali, Ms. Morrison brings this les- vibrant musical culture of Mali by developing an decided is a failure. … And that was also, need- nearly 20 years. In the process, she transformed son back home to the United States, where so unusually intimate style that promotes thought- less to say, a Shakespearean project.” her lifetime appreciation of music, which per- much well-loved music has its roots in Africa— ful consideration of her intricate lyrics. The root The persistence of the past in the present meates her novels, by writing musical lyrics pre- indeed, in Mali itself (think of the Mississippi sound of traditional instruments to which she through song, memory and practice is a con- miered by the likes of Jessye Norman, Kathleen blues, for one, or the American banjo, whose adds her guitars and vocal harmonies (also un- sistent theme of Ms. Morrison’s work. The two Battle and Sylvia McNair (together with André likely precursor was the ancient African lute we usual for a female vocalist) pulsate quietly in temporalities refer to and enrich one another, Previn, Yo-Yo Ma, Max Roach and others), and still hear in Ms. Traoré’s band). layered rhythms as she sings with compassion as when a jazz player or singer of spirituals re- more recently by Denyce Graves, who shaped To better disseminate this message, there about issues confronting her fellow Africans. animates the old standard even while rework- the title role of Margaret Garner. This work, is talk of adapting Desdemona into an African She has built a bridge with a Western sensibility ing it. Here, in Ms. Morrison’s reimagining, which represented the first foray into opera movie in Mali after it completes its long run in as well by partnering with noted ensembles and Desdemona and Barbary (who is not listed in for both Ms. Morrison and composer Richard two American cities and several more in Europe, covering old favorites like Gershwin’s “The Man Shakespeare’s dramatis personæ) meet in the Danielpour, has enjoyed notable success (sold- including at the Cultural Olympiad during the I Love” on her last album, Tchamantché, which afterlife. Their dialogue—also a dialogue be- out performances in six American cities over 2012 Olympics in London. garnered France’s equivalent of the Grammy tween Ms. Morrison’s text and Ms. Traore’s four years and a national broadcast still available Award for Best World Album in 2009. Several music—allows the trauma of race, gender and on NPR’s “World of Opera” website). popular genres, including jazz and R&B, inform class violence, those wounded identities at the Desdemona promises to reach an even wid- Lenore Kitts her cosmopolitan approach. She first worked heart of the tragedy of Othello, to reverberate er audience, bringing a message of hope de- with Mr. Sellars in 2006, when she created in our own global present. “Toni has reconfig- spite—or perhaps because of—the gravity of Currently a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley’s the multimedia Wati with Klangforum Wien ured Shakespeare’s early present-at-the-creation the issues it raises. The act of listening between School of Law, Lenore Kitts studies how nations for his New Crowned Hope Festival (celebrat- pictures of colonialism,” Mr. Sellars pointed Desdemona and Barbary models “a new set of cope with traumatic political histories through ing the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth) in out. “She updates and reframes the colonialist relations,” Mr. Sellars clarified, “and a differ- law and the arts. She is writing a book about Vienna. Reimagining Mozart as a 13th-century project and its residue, as does Rokia from an ent form of mutual recognition…[based on] Toni Morrison’s use of music in her reckoning griot, Ms. Traore wove her music into an his- African perspective.” Ms. Morrison’s work on radical equality.” Unhampered by conventions with slavery. torical narrative about the Mande Empire, as early America for her last novel A Mercy (2008), recounted by a West African woman in a lively specifically how slavery became associated with conversation with an Austrian cabbie during a race, provided fertile ground for this project. ride around Vienna. As America’s only living Nobel Laureate Ms. Traoré grew up traveling the world as in literature, Toni Morrison has come to oc- the daughter of a diplomat and part of Mali’s cupy a unique place in the world of letters to- elite; her becoming a professional musician vio- day. Translated into 26 languages, her novels lated conventional expectations. Yet although chronicling the lives of African Americans are her popular albums blend folk with contempo- read by millions, taught at universities all over rary idioms, she puts down her electric guitar in the world, and celebrated by critics and govern- Desdemona in favor of a purely acoustic sound ments alike. Upon receiving France’s Legion that evokes her Bamana tradition, which she d’honneur last year, Ms. Morrison was dubbed then reconceives. Songs praising young brides “the greatest American woman novelist of her

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Toni Morrison (au- Opera, theater and festi- Mr. Sellars has led several major arts festi- and appealing music. Her innovations have esta- thor) is the Robert F. val director Peter Sellars vals, including the 1990 and 1993 Los Angeles blished a singular style in contemporary African Goheen Professor (director) is one of the Festivals; the 2002 Adelaide Arts Festival music, and she does it all as an artist responsible Emerita in the most innovative and po- in Australia; and the 2003 Venice Biennale and aware of the proper way to fulfill her calling. Humanities at werful forces in the per- International Festival of Theater in Italy. In In 2006, pursuing a career characterized by Princeton University. forming arts in America 2006, he was Artistic Director of New Crowned such brilliant works as her albums Mouneïssa, Her nine major and abroad. A visionary Hope, a month-long festival in Vienna for which Wanita and Bowboï, Ms. Traoré was invited to novels, The Bluest artist, Mr. Sellars is he invited international artists from diverse cul- collaborate with the American director of the Eye, Sula, Song of known for ground- tural backgrounds to create new work in the New Crowned Hope festival, Peter Sellars. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders Timothy Solomon, Tar Baby, breaking interpretations fields of music, theater, dance, film, the visual This first collaboration with Mr. Sellars re- Beloved, Jazz, Paradise, Love and A Mercy, have of classic works. Whether it is Mozart, Handel, arts and architecture for the city of Vienna’s sponded perfectly to Ms. Traoré’s desire to pur- received extensive critical acclaim. She received Shakespeare, Sophocles or the 16th-century Mozart Year celebrating the 250th anniversary sue a career broader in definition than the nar- the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu, Peter Sellars of Mozart’s birth. row universe of so-called world music, which, for Song of Solomon and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize strikes a universal chord with audiences, enga- Mr. Sellars is a professor in the Department for her, limits her artistic desires. for Beloved. In 2006, Beloved was chosen by ging and illuminating contemporary social and of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA and In 2010, after the success of her fourth al- The New York Times Book Review as the best political issues. Resident Curator of the Telluride Film Festival. bum, Tchamantché, Ms. Traoré began her se- work of American fiction published in the last Mr. Sellars has staged operas at the Lyric He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, cond collaboration with Mr. Sellars: Desdemona, quarter-century. Opera of Chicago, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Erasmus Prize, the Sundance Institute for which she has composed the music. In order Ms. Morrison’s lyrics Honey and Rue, com- the Netherlands Opera, the Opéra National de Risk-Takers Award and the Gish Prize, and is to realize her musical compositions, Ms. Traoré missioned by Carnegie Hall for Kathleen Battle Paris, the Salzburg Festival and San Francisco a member of the American Academy of Arts engaged the talented n’goni (West African lute) with music by André Previn, premiered January Opera, among others, establishing a reputation and Sciences. player, Mamah Diabate, who had accompanied 1992; Four Songs, with music by Mr. Previn, for bringing 20th-century and contemporary her since the beginning of her career; Kadiatou premiered by Sylvia McNair at Carnegie Hall in operas to the stage, including works by Olivier At once delicate and inten- Sangaré, Bintou Soumbounou and Fatim November 1994; Sweet Talk, written for Jessye Messiaen, Paul Hindemith and György Ligeti. se, the voice of Rokia Kouyaté, who are among the young singers sup- Norman with music by Richard Danielpour, Inspired by the compositions of Kaija Saariaho, Traoré (Barbary) takes us ported by Ms. Traoré’s foundation in Mali, La premiered in April 1997; and Woman.Life. Osvaldo Golijov and Tan Dun, he has guided on a dreamlike journey Fondation Passerelle; and Mamady Camara, a Song, commissioned by Carnegie Hall for Jessye the creation of productions of their work that into the world of an artist kora (West African harp) player, who she selec- Norman with music by Judith Weir, premiered have expanded the repertoire of modern opera. who has forged her ted by audition. in April 2000; the opera Margaret Garner with Mr. Sellars has been a driving force in the creati- own style. Inspiration, music by Richard Danielpour, premiered in on of many new works with longtime collabora- freshness and spontaneity, Tina Benko (Desdemona) re- May 2005. tor John Adams, including Nixon in China, The combined with timeless cently appeared in Ivo Van In fall 2005 Ms. Morrison was the guest Death of Klinghoffer, El Niño, Doctor Atomic and singing and delicate yet Hove’s production of The curator at the Musée du Louvre in its “Grand A Flowering Tree. energetic instrumental sounds characterize the Little Foxes at New York Invité” program, where she curated a month- Recent Sellars projects have included a sta- originality of her repertoire. Theatre Workshop and long series of events across the arts on the theme ging of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex/Symphony of Ms. Traoré hails from Bamako, Mali. Seeing Wallace Shawn’s Marie and of “The Foreigner’s Home.” Psalms for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the her on stage, one cannot deny that her talent is Bruce at The New Group. She has received the Ordre national de la Sydney Festival; a production of Shakespeare’s considerable and embued with strength and se- Other New York Theatre in- Légion d’honneur, the Commandeur Ordre des Othello seen in Vienna, Bochum (Germany) and renity. When she was just 25 years old, it was cludes Irena’s Vow, A Day in Arts et des Lettres and the National Humanities New York; a critically acclaimed concert staging already clear that she was destined to become the Death of Joe Egg, Ten-High, Rough Sketch, Medal, among other honors. In 1993, of J. S. Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion with the one of the great voices of Africa. Restoration, Age of Iron, Post-Mortem and Ms. Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performed in Full of inventiveness and daring, and spur- Wintertime. Her television credits include Royal for Literature. Salzburg and Berlin; and, this year, stagings red on by a natural authority and great integrity Pains, Ugly Betty, Law & Order, Chappelle’s Show of Nixon in China for the Metropolitan Opera in her artistic choices, Ms. Traoré is one of the and three seasons on Showtime’s Brotherhood. and George Crumb’s The Winds of Destiny for most influential musicians of Africa. Her film credits include The Avengers, Photo-Op, the Ojai Music Festival and Cal Performances, Winner of the Radio France International Puccinni for Beginners, Lucky Days, The Nanny and new productions of Handel’s Hercules in Discoveries of Africa contest, and a revelation at Diaries and The Hungry Ghosts. Ms. Benko has Chicago and Vivaldi’s Griselda in Santa Fe. the Angoulême Music Metisses Festival in 1998, co-written the plays Crush the Infamous Thing Ms. Traoré has invented a deliciously original and Gazebo and is currently directing the solo

12 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 13 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS play Lou based on the writings of Lou sheaths of weapons, harnesses and leather goods. Ballet, Maelstrom and Pacific (San Francisco Andreas-Salomé. Today, for the sake of simplicity, all of the dif- Ballet); Platée (Royal Opera House, Covent ferent families who are pillars of this complex Garden, and New York City Opera); Ein Herz Mamah Diabaté (n’goni) comes from a griot social organization are called griots. (Paris Opera Ballet); and the initial White Oak family in the region of Ségou, Mali. Like most These young women are different from the Project tour. His other work in dance includes griot musicians, Mr. Diabté was taught at a Niamakalas and Horon (nobles) of a few deca- Split Sides and Fluid Canvas for the Merce young age to play his instrument, the n’goni, by des ago. They have been educated in schools, Cunningham Dance Company, Brief Encounters his father. After auditions in 1998, Rokia Traoré just like any young people of the 21st century. for the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Bitter hired Mr. Diabté when he was just 20 years old. They have even participated in competitions Suite for Jorma Elo at Hubbard Street Dance With the exception of Mouneïssa, he has perfor- and events organized around the music in West Company. He often collaborates with Melanie med on all of Ms. Traoré’s albums and tours. Africa, Ms. Soumbounou having been a finalist Rios Glaser and the Wooden Floor dancers in Mr. Diabaté also accompanies the great griots in in the musical contest Africa Stars. Moreover, Santa Ana, California. Bamako, Mali, when not on tour. these young women are as much attracted by traditional Malian music as they are by the mu- A native of the Paris region, Alexis Giraud Kadiatou Sangaré (singer) is identified as a sic of Rokia Traoré, Beyoncé or Céline Dion. (sound designer) began his career as a sound tech- noble Malinké Fulani in the socio-ethnic clas- In 2009, Ms. Sangare, Ms. Soumbounou nician in 1995 in Le Bataclan, a Parisian night- sification of Malians. As with Rokia Traoré, tra- and Ms. Kouyaté participated in auditions or- club. After working with many internationally ditional Malian social mores do not allow her to ganized by Rokia Traoré’s foundation to select acclaimed artists and musicians, Mr. Giraud speak in public during meetings or celebrations, 16 young singers for training in vocal technique began touring as a sound designer for artists in expressing an opinion or desire…be it her own and were subsequently enrolled in education the French and world music genres. When he is or someone one else’s. According to the cultures programs supported by La Fondation Passerelle. not touring, Mr. Giraud makes recordings and of most ethnic groups in Mali, a noble or well- works to bring emerging young artists’ music bred woman does not speak in public. Mamadyba Camara (kora) was born in 1968 in projects to fruition. However, because of contact with the West, Kita, Mali, and spent part of his childhood in this social practice has been relaxed, which has Gambia. He is a Fina; like any son of Niamakala, Diane J. Malecki (producer) has produced the led to members of the nobility practicing jour- he will learn his parents’ occupation alongside work of Peter Sellars for more than 25 years. She nalism, history, storytelling and music…and to them. By the turns of fate, some Niamakalas served for several years as Artistic Administrator griots to become doctors, biologists and bankers. have undergone social reorganization to bring of the Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Bintou Soumbounou (singer) is the dau- their roles in alignment with social realities. Minnesota, where she first worked with Mr. ghter of a notable Garanké named Hamé Such is the case of Mr. Camara, who is the Sellars. She was subsequently invited by him Soumbounou, highly respected in the world of son of a Fina but also plays an instrument, the to become Executive Director of the American griots in Mali. Fatim Kouyaté (singer) comes kora. He arrived in Bamako with his parents National Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center from an important griot family. The Garankés when he was still a teenager. Like the great kora for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, are distantly related to the family of griots, of players Toumani Diabaté and Balakè Sissoko, he where Mr. Sellars had been appointed Artistic which they are not traditionally a part. grew up in the environment of the Niamakalas Director. In 1987, Ms. Malecki was appointed To understand this difference, it helps to of Bamako, who maintain a connection Producing Director of the newly formed BAM know that in the past empires and kingdoms of to Gambia. Opera at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Since West Africa, griots (Djéli) addressed themselves Mr. Camara has accompanied such great 1990, she has worked as an independent produ- to everything concerning music and history. Malian singers as Amy Koïta and Oumou Dede cer, collaborating primarily with Mr. Sellars on They put stories of different events to music. Demba, and he began working with Rokia the development, production, and touring of Finas, or Founès, specialized in speech, ma- Traoré in 2009. his theater, opera, film, video and festival work. king them the messengers and spokespersons Ms. Malecki has been engaged by numerous or- in a society where writing did not exist and the James F. Ingalls (lighting designer) designs in- ganizations, including the Salzburg Festival, the rules of the nobility demanded that the farmers, clude Romeo and Juliet, On Motifs of Shakespeare; Barbican Centre, the Vienna Festival, Lincoln fishermen and others did not not speak in pu- Mozart Dances; L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Center for the Performing Arts, the Holland blic. The Noumous mastered iron, earth and Moderato; Dido and Aeneas; and The Hard Nut Festival, San Francisco Opera and the Los fire. They were healers, practicing circumcision (Mark Morris Dance Group); Orfeo ed Euridice Angeles Philharmonic, to produce Mr. Sellars’s and making weapons and utensils. Garankés (Metropolitan Opera); King Arthur (English productions, and has worked with many and di- controlled skin and leather. They made the National Opera); Joyride, Sylvia, Sandpaper verse creative and interpretative artists.

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