DESCRIPTION:
About the Opera:
"Juniper Tree" was performed at Jan Hus Theatre, 351 E. 74th Street, New York, New York on December 14, 2012 at 8pm.

Adapted from one of Grimm's fairy tales, Juniper Tree tells the story of a boy who dies and comes back as a bird.

A woman wishes for a child as red as blood and as white as snow. She knows she is about to die, so she requests that she be buried under a juniper tree that her family has outside, as that is where she wished for the child. After a few months she gives birth to a son and dies a few days later. She is buried underneath the Juniper tree. Her husband grieves for a long time, and gets married again. His second wife has a daughter, but hates the son because he would be the one to inherit all the family's money, and she wishes it to be her daughter.

While picking apples, the step-daughter holds the ladder while the boy climbs up to pick apples. The step-mother pushes the step-daughter, causing the boy to fall, and he dies. He is buried under the Juniper Tree, and his father is told that he ran away.

The boy is reborn as a bird/boy/beast, and as he discovers who he was, he seeks out his step-mother to seek revenge. He puts poison in her eye, and she dies.

This aria follows the boy as he tries to decide what to do with the rest of his sundered life.

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