{"id":1598080,"date":"2025-11-06T17:10:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observer.com\/?p=1598080"},"modified":"2025-11-06T17:10:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:10:31","slug":"opera-interview-sarah-kirkland-snider-hildegard-opera-prototype-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observer.com\/2025\/11\/opera-interview-sarah-kirkland-snider-hildegard-opera-prototype-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Doubt, Faith and the Creative Odyssey Behind Sarah Kirkland Snider\u2019s \u201cHildegard\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nola Richardson, Mikaela Bennett and the contemporaneous ensemble of HILDEGARD<\/em> by Sarah Kirkland. Photo: Works & Process\/Elyse Mertz<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes a headache is a good thing, and sometimes a migraine is a message from God. At least that\u2019s what Hildegard of Bingen thought. Often called the Sybil of the Rhine, she was a mystic, visionary, writer, composer, philosopher and medical practitioner. Subject to visions, she was a 12th-century German Renaissance woman before such a thing existed.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my early childhood, before my bones, nerves, and veins were fully strengthened, I have always seen this vision in my soul, even to the present time,\u201d she wrote toward the end of her life. \u201cThe light which I see thus is not spatial, but it is far, far brighter than a cloud which carries the sun. I can measure neither height, nor length, nor breadth in it; and I call it \u2018the reflection of the living Light.\u2019 And as the sun, the moon, and the stars appear in water, so writings, sermons, virtues, and certain human actions take form for me and gleam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speculation varies on Hildegard\u2019s affliction, some calling it divine manifestation, and the more scientifically inclined calling it epilepsy, autism or as neurologist Oliver Sacks opined in his 1970 book Migraine<\/i>, \u201cmigraine with aura.\u201d It\u2019s what drew composer and fellow migraine sufferer Sarah Kirkland Snider to Hildegard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted this to be an opera about what it means to be yourself when being yourself comes into conflict with socially conditioned notions of right and wrong,\u201d Snider tells Observer about her first opera, HILDEGARD<\/i><\/a>, which had its world premiere yesterday as part of LA Opera\u2019s Off Grand series highlighting new works, running through November 9 at The Wallis in Beverly Hills. \u201cI wanted to write an opera that was not only about Hildegard but about female relationships, collaborative, empowering relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

One empowering relationship is that which Snider shares with visionary producer Beth Morrison, who strongly believed in the composer\u2019s first opera effort after falling in love with her Penelope<\/i>, a 2010 song cycle based on Homer\u2019s Odyssey.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of her,\u201d Morrison says of Snider. \u201cIt\u2019s been totally a labor of love. She loves Hildegard so much, the historical figure, and she\u2019s written such a beautiful piece. And I can\u2019t wait to share it with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snider\u2019s music has been performed by the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Emerson String Quartet and soprano Ren\u00e9e Fleming in venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and the Sydney Opera House. Much of her work has centered around chamber ensemble compositions, orchestral and, lately, choral and sacred music like her 2020 album Mass for the Endangered.<\/i> Despite her many accomplishments, opera remained a mountain yet unscaled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually not a big opera fan,\u201d she confesses, which might explain why she\u2019s taken so long to compose one. \u201cIt either seems overblown, and kind of blustery and ridiculous, or it seems not immersive or emotional enough. With a lot of modern operas, I have a hard time relating to the characters. So, I wanted to make things immersive and emotional and relatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

HILDEGARD<\/i> director Elkhanah Pulitzer, who regularly collaborates with composer John Adams, recently helmed his Antony and Cleopatra<\/i> at the Met. Her LA Opera productions include Donizetti\u2019s Lucia di Lammermoor<\/i> in 2014. For Hildegard,<\/i> she envisions a blend of influences inspired by medieval religious paintings and iconography, as well as a minimalist take on Hildegard\u2019s own artwork.<\/p>\n

Leading a cast of nine, soprano Nola Richardson makes her LA Opera debut as Hildegard, accompanied by soprano Mikaela Bennett as Richardus. Veteran baritone David Adam Moore, seen earlier this year in Beth Morrison Productions\u2019 Adoration,<\/i> plays Hildegard\u2019s superior, Abbot Cuno.<\/p>\n

In her early fifties, Hildegard met and cared for Sister Richardus, an epileptic who endured the era\u2019s best-known cure for her affliction\u2014severe beatings meant to drive out malignant spirits. In return for Hildegard\u2019s kindness, Richardus transcribed her visions for presentation to the pope. If they were not approved, Hildegard faced excommunication, making the opera\u2019s principal conflict one of the individual versus an entrenched power structure. But there\u2019s more\u2014rape, disinterment, accidental suicide and a faceless angel, to name some.<\/p>\n

Morrison introduced Snider to two librettists early in a process that began eight years ago. Librettos are commonly written by poets, who are adroit at saying a lot in a few words. Snider recalls hearing a frequent refrain: \u201cYou\u2019ve got a lot of ideas here, you should really write this yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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