Organization

Singer

Richard Piper

Leonard

Stage director

Linda Thompson

Emily Burke

Soprano

Dimity Shepherd

Mezzo-soprano

Martin Buckingham

Tenor

Christopher Tonkin

Baritone

Caitlin Toohey

Genevieve Droppert

Alexandra Amerides

Contralto

Conductor

Carlo Antonioli

Callum Warrener

Daniel Felton

Australian Contemporary Opera Co

English

The Book of Longing

Melbourne

Australia

Wheeler Centre

Performance Space

The Book of Longing Glass

Public

Approved

An evening-length work of poetry, music and image based on Leonard's book of 2006.

Humorous self parody, romantic longing, spiritual striving - a sampling of Cohen's poems that touch on romance, biography, balladry, the dharma, limericks and rhymes.

"I wanted the experience of listening to the piece to be similar to what happens when you look through a book of poems but you don't look at it sequentially," he says. "It's a random kind of thing but in the course of time you actually encounter all the different aspects of the piece."

Cohen was once asked, “is the music cabaret, theatrical, or classical?”

He responded “Glassical.”
This multi-dimensional performance combines poetry, music, images and text in a complex and intoxicating meeting of two musical icons: Leonard Cohen and Philip Glass.

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Composed by Philip Glass and adapted from Cohen’s 2006 poetry collection Book of Longing, this genre-defying work stars Richard Piper (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) and features four singers, ensemble, eight instrumentalists and imagery. Described as "part-song-cycle, part cabaret, part-installation" Book of Longing is a work that explores romance, biography, balladry, the dharma, limericks and rhymes.

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Glass is the long-reigning emperor of modern classical music. Cohen spent his career melding pop, folk and Euro-cabaret with his existential-meets-erotic confessional style. Here, they summon the best in each other with a work of feverish passion and wily humour, full of spiritual striving, romantic yearning and witty self parody.

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The Book of Longing by Glass, From (2022/2022), Directed by Linda Thompson,, Conductor Carlo Antonioli, Wheeler Centre, Melbourne, Australia

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues