Wise Blood (2020)

Anthony Gatto

Opera based on the novel by Flannery O’Connor, music and libretto by Anthony Gatto.

“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it.”

The young shattered war veteran Hazel Motes shouts these words from the hood of his car in Wise Blood. America as a

Opera based on the novel by Flannery O’Connor, music and libretto by Anthony Gatto.

“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it.”

The young shattered war veteran Hazel Motes shouts these words from the hood of his car in Wise Blood. America as a "nation of immigrants" shares his sermon as its origin story—or otherwise had it forced on them along the way. Haze may as well also be addressing: the reckoning of America's racist history, its terrorism, voter suppression and disenfranchisement, the genocide of America’s indigenous people, and more recently, climate change, pandemic change, Oxycontin, the militarization of police, the White House flouting the rule of law... “Where you come from is gone” sermonizes on the ways of lost nations and their lost mythologies, and also, the future lost innocence of every child who bears this legacy of being an American.”– Anthony Gatto

Hazel Motes: Martin Bakari Asa Hawks: Brian Major Sabbath Lily Hawks: Holly Hansen Narrator, Mrs. Flood, Passenger: Gelsey Bell Onnie Jay Holy: David Echelard Enoch Emery: Jason Paul Andrews Solace Layfield, Hawker: Michael Sommers Porter, Policeman: Russell Rathbun

Scenes 1 & 12: Geoffrey Landman, soprano saxophone Kristen McKeon, alto saxophone Erin Rogers, tenor saxophone Zach Herchen, baritone saxophone Will Lang, trombones James Rogers, euphonium & tuba

Scenes 2 through 11: The Adam Meckler Orchestra David Bloom, conductor

Live Engineer: Reid Kruger Mixed by: Christopher Botta and Anthony Gatto Mastered by: Christopher Botta

© 1949 by Flannery O'Connor; copyright renewed 1976 by Regina Cline O'Connor. Permission granted by the Mary Flannery O'Connor Charitable Trust. All rights reserved.

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  1. 1
    Wise Blood: Scene 1: On the Train, Inside the Sleeping Berth 6:37
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    Wise Blood: Scene 2: Taulkinham 2:52
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    Wise Blood: Scene 2: Help a blind preacher 2:07
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    Wise Blood: Scene 2: I smell the sin on your breath 2:56
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    Wise Blood: Scene 2: I come a long way 1:53
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    Wise Blood: Scene 2: Sabbath Lily tells a story 1:40
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    Wise Blood: Scene 3: Haze preaches The Church Without Christ 4:13
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    Wise Blood: 1st Interlude Enoch Emery 1:40
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    Wise Blood: Scene 4: Haze rents at Mrs. Flood’s Boarding House 4:55
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    Wise Blood: Scene 4: Sabbath Lily 1st song Babe I never saw 1:52
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    Wise Blood: 2nd Enoch Emery Interlude 1:40
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    Wise Blood: Scene 5: The Church Without Christ needs a new jesus 4:22
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    Wise Blood: Scene 6: Onnie Jay Holy 10:45
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    Wise Blood: Scene 8: Haze lights a match 4:19
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    Wise Blood: 3rd Enoch Emery Interlude 2:03
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    Wise Blood: Scene 9: Where you come from is gone 2:26
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    Wise Blood: Scene 10: Sabbath Lily 2nd song I knew when I first seen you 3:32
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    Wise Blood: Scene 10: Onnie Jay Holy presents The True Prophet, Enoch Emery steals a gorilla suit 2:30
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    Wise Blood: Scene 11: The murder of Solace Layfield 4:06
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    Wise Blood: Scene 12: Hazel Motes blinds himself 6:03
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