DEAD BIRDS: A WAR RITUAL
AN OPERA/DANCE WORK
MUSIC AND LIBRETTO BY WILLIAM HARPER
DIRECTED BY D.W. MOFFAT
CHOREOGRAPHED BY JAN BARTOSEK
PREMIERE: FEBRUARY, 1984 IN CHICAGO
Dead Birds is an incredibly powerful exploration of what war does to human beings.
Wynne Delacoma, Chicago Sun-times
ARTCO is dedicated to generating a new American musical theater. Dead Birds confirms Harper as a dynamo in that process.
Camille Hardy, Dance Magazine
Harper's music has a variety and power which carry the evening through. Dead Birds is an evening of excitement.
Richard Christiansen, Chicago Tribune
The originality and momentum of William Harper's music, and the energy it imparts to Jan Bartosek's choreography gave promise that Chicago may soon have the answer to New York's "new opera" composers Robert Ashley and Laurie Anderson.
Kyle Gann, Chicago Reader
Wynne Delacoma, Chicago Sun-times
ARTCO is dedicated to generating a new American musical theater. Dead Birds confirms Harper as a dynamo in that process.
Camille Hardy, Dance Magazine
Harper's music has a variety and power which carry the evening through. Dead Birds is an evening of excitement.
Richard Christiansen, Chicago Tribune
The originality and momentum of William Harper's music, and the energy it imparts to Jan Bartosek's choreography gave promise that Chicago may soon have the answer to New York's "new opera" composers Robert Ashley and Laurie Anderson.
Kyle Gann, Chicago Reader
