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    These stories are violent, colorful, heroic. . .and the manner of singing Bagby has found for them is vividly theatrical -- the singers grab you by the throat and won't let you go, which is what medieval bards must have done.
-- The Boston Globe

Wagner's "Ring" cycle is 15 hours of expansive, romantic opera about greed and the corrupting power of gold, while "Edda" tells the story in 85 minutes. However concise, "Edda" is a sweeping narrative that is far more violent than its "Ring" counterparts, with hearts cut out of chests and children devoured and, well, you get the picture.

The images in "Edda" that theater artist Ping Chong has created with Sequentia never resort to the literal. The work is an example of vivid storytelling that melds Old Icelandic texts and music reconstructed from ancient materials with a spare, contemporary staging.

--The Cleveland Plain Dealer

EDDA -- Viking tales, of revenge, lust and family is a haunting production 

The legend of the curse of gold found in the ancient Icelandic Edda forms the basis for a unique collaboration between the famed medieval music ensemble Sequentia, under the guidance of Benjamin Bagby, and the stunning visual direction of Ping Chong. Sung in Old Icelandic (also known as Old Norse, the language of the Vikings) with "super-titles" which tell the story in English, the production is beautifully staged story telling.

Originally commissioned by the 2001 Lincoln Center Festival and the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, MI, the production has since been performed to universal acclaim at the Utrecht Festival, The Perth International Arts Festival (Australia)  in Cleveland, OH and Washington, DC.  


August 17,18, Faroe Islands Festival

www.sequentia.org