Reading Musician Featured In New Film From Boston Lyric Opera

READING, MA — A musician from Reading is featured in the new film "The Fall of the House of Usher," produced by the Boston Lyric Opera exclusively for its streaming service operabox.tv.

Annie Rabbat is concertmaster for the genre-bending film, which combines hand-drawn and stop-motion animation with curated archival footage.

Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's original story, "The Fall of the House of Usher" is set to Philip Glass's complete opera score and Arthur Yorinks' full libretto, reimagining the chilling tale through the mind of a young immigrant girl held in a U.S.-Mexico Border Detention Center.

Coronavirus restrictions forced an unusual recording process. The BLO Orchestra and singers recorded the score safely under Music Director David Angus, who monitored the session remotely from his home in England.

"This is an unusual creative time for Boston Lyric Opera," Esther Nelson, BLO's Stanford Calderwood General and artistic director, said in a statement. "This pandemic has demonstrated how inventive artists respond with ingenuity to a crisis."

"The Fall of the House of Usher" debuted on operabox.tv Jan. 29. It is available for $10 for a weeklong rental.