Ellen Lauren, Brandon Jovanovich and Raehann Bryce-Davis; Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Presented by Boston Lyric Opera
Music by Gustav Mahler 
Chamber arrangement by Arnold Schoenberg
Text from Hans Bethge’s Die chinesische Flöte
Additional spoken text by Anne Bogart
Conducted by David Angus
Stage direction by Anne Bogart

March 20-29, 2026
BLO Opera + Community Studios
Boston, MA 02210
Online Playbill

In German and English with English supertitles. 
Running time: 85 minutes with no intermission

BOSTON — Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde), running through March 29 at the Boston Lyric Opera’s new Community Studios in Southie, is beautifully sung and acted. It shows the opera community what can be achieved in a smaller performance space with modest scenic, properties and lighting design. Such thoughtful but lowkey design places greater emphasis on the performances and resulted in one of the most effective productions (in no small part of Gustav Mahler, director Anne Bogart, and conductor David Angus) I’ve seen this season in any genre.  

On a stage washed in purples, mossy greens, and earth tones, a desk, a tall window, and a cosily made bed beckon actors to take their places in the dark. The Mother (Ellen Lauren) tells us to be still. She insists that “Time is larger than me” in a lyrical monologue written by Bogart. She asserts, “Nothing has changed,” and briefly, the stage is quiet again. At the drop of Conductor Angus’ baton, music erupts from the audience-left chamber orchestra, and The Poet (Brandon Jovanovich) begins his ode to our Earth’s sadness, “Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde.” 

Thus begins Mahler’s opus for two vocalists, this time a tenor and a mezzo. It is adapted by the BLO creative staff for an additional performer, The Mother. Hers is a speaking role, adding depth and balance to Mahler/Schoenberg’s arrangement for modern audiences. Bogart divides the stage environment into thirds a la Viewpoints (a book I recommend for any practitioner). Each performer has their space just as they have their moments in the production. The performers share space as the production progresses and their world is developed. 

The BLO summary says, Song of the Earth is about three figures occupying a single room across time and space: The Poet (Jovanovich), who occupies the space shortly before his death; the Lover (Raehann Bryce-Davis) remains after him like a ghost; and the Mother (Lauren, recalling a Mother Earth character who grieves for our planet), who grieves the loss of her child in the present. Their lives overlap but don’t touch. The summary continues, this work becomes a meditation on grief, memory, and endurance. Loss and life persist side by side.

Lauren, Jovanovich and Bryce-Davis are a perfectly balanced trio. Lauren, who doesn’t sing in this product, speaks in suspended phrases like an opera singer. She moves like a modern dancer and speaks like a Shakespearean actor. Vocalists can learn a lot from Lauren’s preparation, breath support, and nuanced delivery of text. Their artistic genres differ, but the technical elements come from the same place within the body.     

Raehann Bryce-Davis is The Lover and Ellen Lauren is The Mother. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

Jovanovich and Bryce-Davis are consummate performers who summon their voices from the very depths of their being. Jovanovich’s drunk Poet oozes libidinous despair. With such a tenor, death is indeed a sin. Bryce-Davis’s voice is rich and warm as her red, velvet dress. Both her voice and her face express in delightful symmetry the joy and sadness of Bethge’s text. The two followed the fluidly paced Angus as if through symbiosis.

Kudos go to Sara Brown, scenic design, and Brian H Scott, lighting design, for their complementary greens and purples. Scott’s lighting design matched the mint green in Brown’s Chinese-influenced wallpaper, which matched the comforter on the bed placed stage left. Their work and Haydee Zelideth’s sumptuous costume design intelligently reference themes in Hans Bethge’s Die chinesische Flöte. 

Speaking of which, Bryce-Davis knows how to guide a dress train. Even in those abysmal black pumps she’s wearing, she easily manipulates the dress’ tail out of her way as she turns in a circle or stalks to the window. In these modern days of comfy pants, that’s not an intuitive skill.  

The BLO, Angus, and Bogart take liberties with Mahler’s work. So did Schoenberg. Tradition is peer pressure from dead people. Mahler’s not in a position to argue with BLO’s interpretation of his work. One might as well try something different. 

The facts are these: Gustav Mahler died in 1911; Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde) resides in the public domain. BLO’s augmentations aren’t all that radical considering the other theatre available in Boston. In these, the days after Timothée Chalamet’s derogatory statements against ballet and opera, there’s no better time than right now to prove Timmy Chamalamadingdong wrong. Take liberties. Attract new audiences. Attend more than you perform. Try not to be a snob. Go and get yourself some gorgeous opera. 

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