Textura 2023 Top Picks: In a Grove
ALBUM REVIEW
December 6, 2023
Textura writes: Christopher Cerrone's first opera, Invisible Cities (based on Italo Calvino's novel), was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize. There's every reason to think that this latest creation from the Brooklyn-based composer (b. 1984), In a Grove, should receive similar recognition when the work, based on the same short story by Ryunosuke Akutagawa that inspired Kurosawa's Rashomon and featuring a terrific libretto by Stephanie Fleischmann, mesmerizes from start to finish. Co-produced by the Los Angeles and Pittsburgh Opera companies, In a Grove provides further confirmation of Cerrone's singular gifts and why he's justly regarded as one of today's leading composers.
