Fallujah
2012
Music by Tobin Stokes
Libretto by Heather Raffo
War is nightmare for everyone. Understanding and compassion is remedy for everyone. USMC Sergeant Philip Houston meets a teenage Iraqi named Wissam. Their almost alien encounter leads to tragedy and then revelation. The agonies of PTSD are played out in the memory and re-living of horror, but at the end Philip understands that he was named “to mean something”. Salvation lies in humane identity.
Fallujah was City Opera Vancouver’s first commission. It was premiered in March 2016 in Los Angeles by Long Beach Opera, and was later produced by New York City Opera (2016) and Opera Carolina (2019)
You can watch Fallujah here:
The creation of Fallujah was made possible by the Annenberg Foundation.
