DELPHIC FORGE is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the promotion of operatic, musical, and theatrical works for the benefit, entertainment, and edification of the public. It aims to fulfill its mission through educational events, media, and studio readings, toward the ultimate goal of having the works produced and staged by a theater company. From a thematic standpoint, Delphic Forge is especially interested in bringing to public attention, and to the stage, both classical and contemporary artistic creations of aesthetic merit that speak to perennial human concerns and ideas. The endeavors of Delphic Forge involve a quest for an aesthetics and philosophical anthropology in which reason and the senses are reconciled for the sake of an opening to the transcendent.
Our first project is the promotion of the new opera GRACCHUS. GRACCHUS is modern opera on a grand scale. As such, it brings together music, poetry, dance, scenographics, and philosophical reflection fused with emotional power in a total work of art. The opera's ancient setting, the late Roman Republic, a period of socio-economic dislocation and factional strife, lends itself to an allegory of contemporary political history and a penetration of the topic of populism. Though based on Plutarch’s Lives, the story is an energetic fiction propelled by timeless questions of the human condition. It incorporates many of the marks of high classical drama: a titanic struggle to the death between two enemies, a ghost, a mysterious prophetess, betrayal of friendship, revenge, family strife, infidelity, reconciliation, emotional release, and, of course, the spilling and binding of blood. All this is elevated and crowned by a soaring musical score.
Future workshops and readings sponsored by Delphic Forge will allow us to highlight selections of the opera to donors, operatic professionals, and theatrical producers, with a view to realizing a staging of the complete work. Please consider a donation to support us in this effort.