prisoner of the state tells the story of a woman who disguises herself as a prison guard to rescue her husband from unjust political imprisonment, with a libretto by the composer that refers self-consciously to Beethoven’s Fidelio. Lang was inspired to write the piece by what he felt to be the unrealized potential in Fidelio’s narrative.
David Lang’s prisoner of the state — co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, De Doelen, Barbican Centre, l’Auditori, Bochumer Symphoniker, Concertgebouw Bruges and Malmö Opera — premiered in June 2019 with the New York Philharmonic, and received its British premiere in January 2020 at the Barbican Centre in London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and conductor Ilan Volkov.
“David Lang’s ‘Prisoner of the State,’ a streamlined, seething updating of ‘Fidelio,’ ends the New York Philharmonic’s season on a high note.”
-THE NEW YORK TIMES
“‘Prisoner of the State’ is an evocative reimagining in which Beethoven’s original lurks just below the surface, visible like a gravestone rubbing that has been worked into a new drawing.”
-THE WASHINGTON POST
“…a vibrant ensemble effort in a production conceived and directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer encouraged receptivity to something different.”
-CLASSICAL VOICE NORTH AMERICA
