Stuyvesant Zero - an opera in 2 scenes and a debate

Caroline Ansink/Jonathan Levi

What do Weststellingwerf and New York have in common?

Peter Stuyvesant!

He was a native son of Scherpenzeel, Governor of New Amsterdam (as New York was called in the mid 17 th century) and famous for both his silver peg leg and his persecution of Quakers, Jews and Native Americans. In Stuyvesant Zero - an Opera in two Scenes and a Debate , American writer Jonathan Levi, Dutch composer Caroline Ansink and Opera Spanga's irreverent director Corina van Eijk, set Stuyvesant loose on the stage, using words and music to ask some uncomfortable questions about nationality, religion and freedom which are still relevant today.

Presented out of doors on the historic Blessebrugschans and in front of the modern city hall of Westellingwerf, Stuyvesant Zero provides Opera Spanga with yet another opportunity to expand and explode the traditional meaning of "opera".

Performance dates: August 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30 and 31 and September 1, 2 and 4.

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