A UNIQUE MUSICAL EXPERIENCE 

Our 2025 Series launches with mezzo-soprano OLIVE CULLEN and pianist RONAN APCAR;  they present songs from Penelope and other works inspired by the ocean. Penelope is a song cycle by composer Sarah Kirkland Snider, with lyrics by playwright Ellen McLaughlin. Inspired by Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey, it is a meditation on memory, identity, and what it means to come home.

International reviews have lauded it, placing Kirkland at the forefront of contemporary composers.  

The New York Times (2015) described Penelope as "a rapturous song cycle...". Janson Green from Pitchfork writes that Penelope is "... a gorgeous piece of music, but it is more — it is also a hauntingly vivid psychological portrait, one that explores a dark scenario with a light, almost quizzical touch, finding poetic resonances everywhere… No matter what perspective you bring to… it bears profound rewards." 

Cullen and Apcar's program is rich with perspectives from different eras, genders and geographical spaces. It includes The Lotus Eaters,…