Free In-Person Event
Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA
Join us for an exclusive preview of a brand-new opera inspired by the timeless Epic of Gilgamesh, in the museum’s Mesopotamian gallery.
Free and open to the public. Advance registration required. Free tickets are limited. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Opera Preview: The Immortal Legacy of Gilgamesh
Commissioned by the Assyrian Arts Institute, this special program offers an exclusive preview of a new opera inspired by the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh. Audiences will experience the opera’s prologue and select musical scenes from the production which is slated to premiere in 2026 in Cerritos, California. The opera explores timeless themes of friendship, courage, love, mortality, and divine destiny.
The event will also feature a short talk by Eckart Frahm, John M. Musser Professor of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at Yale University. He will discuss the original Gilgamesh tablets and the excavation of King Ashurbanipal’s Royal Library at Nineveh, drawing insights from his recent book, Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire.
Opera Leadership and Creative Team
Commissioner: Assyrian Arts Institute
Nora Betyousef Lacey, Executive Producer; Founder and Executive Director, Assyrian Arts Institute
Derrick Skye, Music Composer and Conductor; Artistic Director of Bridge to Everywhere Ensemble
Diana Farrell, Artistic Director and Librettist; Founding Artistic Director of Lyric Opera of Orange County
Maura Tuffy, Assistant Conductor, Bridge to Everywhere Ensemble
Dr. Eve Sada, Ethnomusicologist, Dramaturg and Cultural Advisor; Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School.
Presented by the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, with support from ArtsThursdays—a university-wide initiative supported by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts, the Assyrian Arts Institute, the Mishael and Lillie Naby Assyrian Lecture Fund of Harvard’s Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations Department, the Naby Frye Assyrian Fund for Culture, the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, the Assyrian American Association of Massachusetts, and the Nineveh Chair, University of Salamanca.
Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage, 4:30–9:30 pm.
ArtsThursdays is a university-wide initiative supported by Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA)
