The world premiere of The Song of Śakuntalā was the IN Series seventh premiere in the nine months of its 2025/2026 season. Earlier premieres included St. John the Baptist and The Delta King’s Blues, reviewed on Culturevulture.net. The Song of Śakuntalā, the company’s final production of the season, was by IN Series Artistic Director Timothy Nelson. This unstaged chamber opera is based on the play The Recognition of Śakuntalā by Kālidāsa, a 4th to 5th century BCE, Sanskrit poet who is considered ancient India’s greatest poet and playwright. The libretto is comprised of texts by Sarojini Naidu, Rabindranath Tagore, and Vidyapati.
The Song of Śakuntalā is a musical meditation on love and marriage. Nelson follows the seven-act palindrome structure of Kālidāsa’s play. While this is a work of new Western musical-theater, it primarily incorporates elements of Indian composition.
Nelson’s story of Śakuntalā concerns the daughter of a sage living in an isolated forest. In Act I, while her father is away, she meets the prince Dusyanta who is hunting near her home. In Act II, they fall deeply in love and in Act III have a secret marriage. In Act IV, Disyanta returns to his kingdom but leaves his seed. Śakuntalā suffers this loss and decides to leave the only home she has known. In Act V, presumably after the birth of their son Bharata, Śakuntalā confronts Dusyanta in his castle but he doesn’t recognize her. She leaves, devastated. In Act VI, Dusyanta awakes from his confusion and sets out to find Śakuntalā. In Act VII, he makes his way to her forest home, but he is now an old man. A child appears who seems familiar and he is reunited with Śakuntalā at the moment of his death.
The palindrome is structured as follows. The first and last of the seven acts share the same musical scale. Act II uses a minor scale which is transposed down a half step in Act VI. Acts III and V also have linked scales. Act IV, at the center of the palindrome, uses a new scale with both a raised fourth and raised seventh scale tones, creating two identical tritones. This is the only act where the scale changes. For most of the opera, an Indian bellows instrument played by Nelson produced a drone that underlay the vocal and instrumental melodies. Act IV’s extended unaccompanied solo by Śakuntalā was the only section where the drone was silent.
The combination of eastern and western instruments added a complex layering of intriguing sound that made for a hypnotic experience. The oboist used extended techniques to produce multiphonics (two pitches played at the same time), providing tension at a highly emotional moment in the story. The viola da gamba player augmented the intricate tabla drumming with a quiet set of finger-tapping on the face of his instrument. The sitar player reigned supreme with his traditional interludes. Lighting blanketed the stage with yellow stars in a blue heaven.
The singing was a tour de force by each cast member. This reviewer was particularly mesmerized by mezzo Aryssa Leigh Burrs’s artful bending of pitch. Because Burr sang the masculine role of Prince Dusyanta, this reviewer wonders if the role was meant to be for a countertenor. However, Burr’s performance was so outstanding, one could not wish for a different performer. Teresa Ferrara as Śakuntalā achieved excellence in this challenging role that included an extended solo in the pivotal fourth act. Marvin Wayne served as the sonorous spoken voice of the narrator. When he sang the role of Bharata late in the opera, it came as a magnificent surprise and left this reviewer wanting to hear more from him.
Hats off to Timothy Nelson who has created an exceptional work that takes the audience far from today’s political turmoil to a more meditative and refreshing place.
Karren LaLonde Alenier
