Elena Ruehr Archives - Arts at MIT

Alan Pierson and Elena Ruehr with the Alabama Symphony, 2015. Photo: Courtesy of the Alabama Symphony.

Vivaldi goes in a time machine (and then to Alabama)

Hearing Vivaldi’s Spring piped over the stereo at an upscale department store in Chestnut Hill Mall, MIT composer Elena Ruehr had an epiphany. It was winter 1995, and she was working on a piece for strings commissioned by Metamorphosen for their … Continued

Elena Ruehr, Gretchen Henderson and Roomful of Teeth at Kresge Auditorium, 2014. Photo: L. Barry Hetherington.

Cassandra in the Temples: Ignored prophetess commands attention in Elena Ruehr & Gretchen Henderson’s new opera for Roomful of Teeth

When the gods hand you a gift, they also hand you a whip for self-flagellation, to paraphrase Truman Capote. The Cassandra story typifies the blessing-and-coeval-curse topos. Apollo gives Cassandra the gift of prophecy to seduce her. When she refuses, he … Continued

Elena Ruehr Articles

Vivaldi goes in a time machine (and then to Alabama)

Cassandra in the Temples: Ignored prophetess commands attention in Elena Ruehr & Gretchen Henderson’s new opera for Roomful of Teeth