Review: Julia Wolfe's 'Fire in My Mouth' Brings Focus and Power to a Tragic Story
Marin Alsop, the Philharmonia and three choirs gave the London premiere at the Royal Festival Hall of a multimedia oratorio about the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
The London premiere of Julia Wolfe's multimedia oratorio "Fire in My Mouth" was performed at the Royal Festival Hall, conducted by Marin Alsop with the Philharmonia orchestra and three choirs.
The Pulitzer-winning work centers on the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Greenwich Village, New York, in which 146 garment workers, most of them recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women, died. Many of the victims were unable to escape the flames because stairwells and exits had been locked by the factory's management.
Composed in 2019, "Fire in My Mouth" is the third installment in Wolfe's series of large-scale works exploring the history of the American worker. Its London premiere served as the opening performance of the Southbank Centre's autumn season.
The performance combined the orchestra and choral forces with multimedia elements to convey the events of the factory fire, a disaster that remains a significant moment in the history of American labor and workplace safety.
Sources
- Fire in My Mouth review – Wolfe’s multimedia oratorio tells its tragic story with focus and power — The Guardian — Culture
EGazette summarizes reporting from multiple sources; follow the links for the originals.
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