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September 10, 2011 | San Francisco Opera
Heart of a Soldier
Composer:Christopher Theofanidis
Librettist:Donna DiNovelli
Synopsis
"A story of war, love, friendship and heroism, Heart of a Soldier reflects on the extraordinary true story of Rick Rescorla, a man trained to be a consummate warrior who gave up his own life saving thousands in the attacks on September 11, 2001. Inspired by the American soldiers he saw as a boy in Cornwall, England preparing to launch the Normandy invasion on what became D-Day, and his adult friendship with American fighting man Dan Hill, whom he meets in war-torn Rhodesia, Rescorla emigrates to the United States in the early 1960s to become a soldier and a “Yank,” ultimately becoming a decorated platoon leader during the Vietnam War.

On September 11, 2001, as head of security for Morgan Stanley at Two World Trade Center, Rescorla is thrown to the floor when United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the South Tower. Amidst the unimaginable chaos that ensues, Rescorla uses his commanding presence and booming voice to literally sing his colleagues down smoke-filled stairs and out of the building. While he successfully evacuates all of his company’s 2,700 employees from the South Tower before it collapses, Rescorla makes the ultimate sacrifice when he goes back into the building to search for stragglers. Heart of a Soldier is an opera about a hero who disdains that very term, and about his deep friendship with an American soldier, so unlike him in approach and yet so similar in dedication and bravery."
-San Francisco's Press Release

Productions
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COMPANYTITLEDATES
San Francisco OperaHeart of a Soldier9/9/2011 - 9/30/2011


OPERA America/Opera.ca Grants Awarded
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GRANT NAMEYEAR
New Works Exploration Grants2012

Title Information

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Approximate Runtime (hh:mm)
02:45

Original Cast
Thomas Hampson (Rescorla)
Melody Moore (Susan)
William Burden (Dan Hill)



 
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