We Shall Not Be Moved a hybrid opera in three acts (2017)
Libretto by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Music by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)

Length: 2 hours
PDF Price: $350 for piano-vocal study score (no performance rights)
Please contact us for full orchestral score + parts rental pricing for performances.

Instrumentation:
Vocalists - Spirits, Spoken word artist, Mezzo-soprano, Countertenor, Tenor, Baritone, and Bass-baritone
Drum Kit - Snare, Piccolo Snare, Kick Drum, Hi-Hat, RideCymbal, Crash Cymbal, Sizzle Cymbal, 3 Toms, Floor Tom, 2 Bongos, Triangle, Tambourine
Percussion (1 player) - Large Bass Drum, 3 Toms, Tambourine, Triangle, Cowbell, Claves, Maracas, 2 Congas, 3 Crystal Glasses, Glockenspiel, Tubular Bells, Vibraphone
Keyboards (1 player) - Piano, Synthesizer
Strings - 1 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello, 1 Bass (acoustic and electric)

This work was commissioned and premiered by Opera Philadelphia, directed by Bill T. Jones, conducted by Viswa Subbaraman. Please contact us to purchase study score or for full score rental.

OPERA DESCRIPTION:
On the run after a series of tragic incidents, five North Philly teens find refuge in an abandoned, condemned house in West Philadelphia at the exact location that served as headquarters of the MOVE organization, where a 1985 standoff with police infamously ended with a neighborhood destroyed and 11 people dead, including five children. This self-defined family is assuaged and even inspired by the ghosts who inhabit this home and begin to see their squatting as a matter of destiny and resistance rather than urgent fear. This World Premiere chamber opera by Daniel Bernard Roumain and librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph is “ambitiously interdisciplinary,” according to Bill T. Jones, the celebrated director, choreographer, dramaturge, and dancer. Combining spoken word, classical, R&B and jazz singing, and a brooding, often joyful score filled with place, purpose, and possibility, We Shall Not Be Moved is a timely exploration of past and present struggles which suggests an alternate future through the eyes of its young protagonists.
-Opera Philadelphia