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    Wayne Shorter's operatic dream comes true, brought to life with Esperanza Spalding

    Iconic jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter has completed a long-held dream, an opera based on the mythic Greek character Iphigenia, with help from singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding.
    by Andrea Shea Nov 11, 2021 5 minutes
    Composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter with a page from his <em>...(Iphigenia)</em> score.

    One recent November morning, after months, even years, working apart, a chamber ensemble, jazz trio and more than a dozen opera singers finally have an opportunity to rehearse together, in person, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz picks up a microphone and acknowledges the Los Angeles-based jazz elder who couldn't make the trip east.

    "I just wanted to just take a moment to register the momentousness of this, that we are all here together just to call up the name of Wayne Shorter in this space," Blain-Cruz says. "Let's give it up for Wayne Shorter!"

    The room erupts in hoots and applause.

    Shorter's first opera, is set to premiere in Boston this week. The work then travels to three further cities: Washington, D.C., and Berkeley

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