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Robert Ashley

"Robert Ashley’s opera Atalanta (Acts Of God) is a collection of stories, songs and musical themes arranged into three groups. Each group is focused on the character of an extraordinary man of our times... Max Ernst (surrealist painter)... Willard Reynolds (shaman storyteller)... Bud Powell (composer pianist). The three groups/three men are thematically connected as possible suitors for an extraordinary woman, symbolized by Atalanta." - more info

"These are long stories in the tradition of stories that are to be sung, but are too long to be sung without a musical accompaniment. Without the music (and even with the music) people drop out now and then and so they have to hear the story many times for all of the parts finally to come together. I know a lot of stories in that style from my childhood. It’s a wonderful way to hear a story. Now, with recording, the story can be heard many times." - Robert Ashley