The Desire/Divinity Project
desire, life's profound animating force
Marisa Michelson’s Desire/Divinity Project embodies a tension that aches and pulls between the longing for all that is sensual, immanent, fleshly-bloodly-bonely and the longing for all that wisps above and beyond, out of reach, that which is invisible, a divine light that cannot be touched with the senses.
Through a musicalization of that ancient erotic poem (the Song of Songs) and a setting of the remaining fragments that remain of Sappho's poetry (as translated by Anne Carsons) 15 moving singers explore singing, longing and eros. The Desire/Divinity Project journeys into the body to connect with that which is sacred.
This project was developed with support from The Ted and Mary Jo Shen Charitable Gift Fund, Judson Memorial Church, Heartbeat Opera, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
PART 1: SONG OF SONG OF SONGS
Conceived, Created and Composed by Marisa Michelson
Developed with and Directed by Ethan Heard
A musical piece in three movements scored for Constellation Chor, bansuri flute, melodica, cello and percussion.
In between a live music video, an oratorio, an opera and a ritual, Song of Song of Songs explores the the relationship between the sensual and the sacred, the body and the spirit, through an exegesis of the Western world’s oldest erotic poem, Song of Songs. The 45 minute piece unfolds through 3 distinct musical “movements.” It’s scored for twelve singers, bansuri flute, melodica, cello and percussion (djembe, cajon, frame drum, talking drum, drum set).
 Conceptually, the piece is a journey from the ancient to the contemporary, from the heteronormative to the queer, and from the personal to the cosmic. It takes place from one sunrise to the next.
Performance history & Awards:
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Winner of the Inaugural Eric Salzman Award for New Music Theatre
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Judson Memorial Church, January 2018
Director: Ethan Heard
Movement Director: Emma Crane Master
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Heartbeat Opera Spring Festival, 2016
Director: Ethan Heard
Choreographer: Chase Brock
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Judson Memorial Church, Magic Time, 2015
Director: Ethan Heard
Choreographer: Chase Brock
PART 2: SAPPHO FRAGMENTS
Conceived and Composed by Marisa Michelson
Sappho’s poetry crackles with life: each word (as translated by Anne Carson) is a potent universe evoking layers of meaning, each phrase is a journey into a passionate pulsing heart, each poem shrinks the millennia, transcends time, and reveals the universality of a human soul that is like all of ours. Poetry, voice, breath, movement, woven together by Constellation Chor, to make audible and visible Sappho’s spirit.
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Performance history:
Judson Memorial Church, February 2018
Direction by Ethan Heard
Movement Direction : Emma Crane Jaster
Featuring Marisa Michelson and Constellation Chor
Heartbeat Opera
Spring Collaboret, 2017
Movement Direction
by Emma Crane Jaster
Featuring Marisa Michelson and Constellation Chor
PART 3: The FarNearness
In development
Exploring the lives and words and faith of Marguerite Porete, Hildegard von Bingen, and Heloise d'arguenteuil