Woman With Eyes Closed

A family portrait

When Mona finds a mysterious suitcase filled with stolen masterpieces, she must grapple with a choice to save these priceless paintings or save her son—the thief. Burning the paintings would destroy the evidence of her son’s crime, but one of the paintings—Lucian Freud’s “Woman With Eyes Closed”—looks just like her own mother, a painter who died when Mona was still young. The uncanny resemblance unlocks long-buried memories that fuel the fires of three different possible endings.

This world premiere opera from award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon (Cold Mountain) is inspired by a real-life art heist, and confronts the question “what is the true value of a work of art?” This is an opera that needs to be seen at least twice; each night of the production has the possibility of a completely new ending!