Mystics

An original production of Musica Aperta Based on texts by Saint John of the Cross and Rosalia de Castro.

Created by Ignacio Alcover and Juan Uriagereka

Directed by Pedro Boixeda
Script Juan Uriagereka and Ignacio Alcover
Textual Treatment and English Synopsis Juan Uriagereka
Lighting Gordon Anson
Sound John Conway
Executive Director Robert Wight
Artistic Director Ignacio Alcover

Originally premiering in October 2008 at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and co-sponsored by the Embassy of Spain, Mystics is a stirring musical and theatrical performance inspired by the Spanish mystics. The show blends poetry from the Spiritual Canticle written by St. John of the Cross during his imprisonment in Toledo, Spain in the 16th century with music from a variety of composers reaching back to medieval Magister Perotinus and Spanish Renaissance composer Cristóbal de Morales. These works are musically juxtaposed with Arvo Pärt’s contemporary minimalism, whose purity of expression is also reminiscent of Saint John’s language and works by Henryk Góreki. The drama plays out as actors portray St. John as prisoner and his guard, who undergoes a transformative experience as he witnesses the poetry of his captive. With the additional support of the Foreign Ministry of Spain, Mystics was performed in San Juan, Miami, San Francisco and Boston in the first half of 2010.

For more information, please visit musicaaperta.org