The Lyric’s Tale is a 45 minute “entertainment,” composed for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble in 2002. Oriented between the lyric theater and the new music ensemble, the piece is scored for baritone voice, actress, dancer, and projected video images. Exploring themes of life and death, love and hate, and the conflict between science and religion, the loosely-woven storyline examines the ways that knowledge and understanding emerge from a struggle between seeming opposites. Incorporating texts from the Bible, and secular writing from the 14th to the 20th century, the longest intact text is taken from William F. Van Wert’s “Acts Of Indulgence,” a poignantly humorous look at Martin Luther’s encounters with famous figures from the recent past, including Sigmund Freud, Martin Luther King, Jr., Yogi Berra, Mother Teresa and others.

Lawrence Indik, Marcia Ferguson, Angela Sigley