4,000-Year-Old ‘Gilgamesh’ Gets a New Life in Cerritos Opera Premiere

Lyric Opera of Orange County joins Assyrian artists to transform the ancient tale into a sweeping multimedia production.

Before there were Marvel superheroes, before there was Tarzan, before there was even Noah and his ark, there was Gilgamesh, a superhuman (two-thirds god and one-third human) from ancient Mesopotamia whose life story has been hailed as the world’s first hero.

On March 28 and 29, the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts will host the world premiere of “Gilgamesh: The Opera,” a multimedia operatic production created in partnership between the Lyric Opera of Orange County, the chamber music ensemble Bridge to Everywhere and the Assyrian Arts Institute. 

Created around 4,000 years ago and considered among the world’s oldest surviving literary works, “The Epic of Gilgamesh” is an extraordinary, action-packed tale about Gilgamesh, a demigod and ruler of the ancient Mesopotamian land of Uruk. Gilgamesh’s personal quest for immortality kindles a clash with the gods, which results in profound consequences for his close friend, Enkidu. Gilgamesh then embarks on an adventurous odyssey that leads him to question his desire for immortality and consider the significance of his own legacy.

In the mid-19th century, 12 cuneiform clay tablets were discovered in Assyrian excavation sites and subsequently translated. While the Gilgamesh story has been done on stage before, this production, the brainchild of the Assyrian Arts Institute (AAI), is significantly unique because it is being presented by Mesopotamian Assyrians. “I felt a deep responsibility,” AAI’s Executive Director Nora Betyousef Lacey told Culture OC, “to bring this epic to life in a way that honors our culture.” 

The importance of the Gilgamesh story extends beyond its place in world history and Assyrian culture, as it also holds modern themes, such as friendship, love, grief and contemplates the significance of legacy. “All these issues,” Lacey said, “are still relevant in today's world. So, it is a perfect story to be introduced by us, the descendants of the story, to the world and create public awareness for the story as well as for our nation.” 

Lacey praised her creative collaborators, director/librettist Diana Farrell of the Lyric Opera of Orange County and composer Derrick Skye, for conceiving an innovative multimedia production that incorporates ballet, puppetry, multimedia projections and a variety of musical styles. The idea, as Farrell explained, “was never to create a museum piece, but to create something brand new …. We wanted to take a story that was really central to the legacy of the culture itself. and tell it in a new way with modern, contemporary artists – some Assyrians, some not – to make sure that legacy lives for another 4,000 years.”

Farrell, who comes from an Assyrian background, was familiar with the Gilgamesh tale and acknowledges that telling this epic story has been an immense challenge. She reveals that she spent a good deal of time just whittling down the massive plot and making the story “personal and relatable.” Her ultimate goal, Farrell said, “was that every single person, by the end of the show, sees themselves (how) Gilgamesh sees himself.” 

Farrell got inventive as well as when it came to the staging. While “opera” is used in the title, the production isn’t so much opera in the traditional sense as operatic in scope. She describes it as being “more of a Broadway or musical format, except it's thoroughly composed.” To aid in the storytelling, cinematic elements of projection and sound will be used. As a way to help audiences with general character identification, the living creatures on Earth are played by dancers who never speak. The gods, on the other hand, can sing and express themselves and tell the story. Additionally, there will be instances where gods come to life through their carvings and statues – similar to what happens in Pageant of the Masters productions. 

Besides being seen as the original hero saga, “The Epic of Gilgamesh” also represents something of an origin story for many other familiar tales or at least shares some familiar plot points. Greek myth fans might pick up references to the stories of Orpheus, Achilles and Hercules. Gilgamesh also holds some parallels to the biblical stories of Noah and the ark and Adam and Eve. Similarly, some of Gilgamesh’s adventures bear a resemblance to Rip Van Winkle and Tarzan as well as the Fountain of Youth and sci-fi portals. All of these narrative echoes further highlight just what an influential, landmark work “The Epic of Gilgamesh” is. 

Like Farrell, Skye took a very expansive approach when it came to composing the music. Skye is the artistic director of the L.A.-based Bridge to Everywhere (which is participating in this production), and this ensemble brings this transcultural approach to music, exploring connections that exist between world music styles. “I do love Assyrian music. I love Indian classical music. I love West African music,” he said. “I love all kinds of music because all of these different musical systems, they just resonate with my heart.”

Skye, who isn’t Assyrian, requested – and received – time from AAI to research Assyrian and Mesopotamian culture and music, which allowed him to explore bridges between those ancient and contemporary musics. “If you think about Mesopotamia and many different cultures are in that area then, it’s going to be transcultural, point blank,” he said. 

Skye too emphasized the important part played by the Bridge to Everywhere musicians. Because of their background and experience working a broad variety of music from around the planet, the ensemble helped to realize, according to Skye, “the hybrid musical language of the opera and act as a kind of connective tissue between different musical worlds represented in the piece.”

The production, he revealed, utilizes several traditional instruments associated with Assyrian culture, like the double-headed drum called the dawla, a lute known as a tanbur, and the qanun, a stringed instrument. Skye also talked about how he was able to integrate a traditional woodwind instrument, the zerna, into the show. He described the zerna as having a spicy but very loud sound – too loud to play onstage. Because he wanted the zerna sound in the production, he built an electronic re-creation of it and taught the keyboardist how to play it for the performances.  

Creating “Gilgamesh: The Opera” has been a multi-year effort for the Assyrian Arts Institute and represents the nonprofit organization’s largest project to date. With opening night looming, Lacey said she is “extremely excited about the premiere,” adding that “I am proud of being in a position to be able to bring a story that is not only a story of humanity, but it tells us about history …. It’s a very, very special story that deals with scholarship and art all at the same time.”