“Satyagraha” shimmers on the opera stage
“Satyagraha.” Photo by Cory Weaver/LA Opera“Satyagraha” by Philip Glass at LA Opera, a review A fantasia or meditation on the life of Mohandas Gandhi might not seem like the ideal choice for an opera, but “Satyagraha,” which Philip Glass composed nearly 40 years ago (it premiered in 1980), is musically spellbinding. It is also, in this co-production of the English National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, with Improbable Productions providing the icing, visually stimulating as well. But it doesn’t stop there. Gracefully conducted by Grant Gershon, and with a standout Sean Pannikar in the lead role as Gandhi, “Satyagraha” is making an impressive debut at LA Opera where it’s being staged through Nov. 11 in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. “Satyagraha” is a term, coined by Gandhi, that is being translated here as “truth force,” but it can also mean “holding onto truth,” used to imply or urge resistance through non-violence. If this sounds a bit like Martin Luther King, Jr., well, just you wait. Philip Glass is prominent (with John Adams, Tobias Picker, etc.) among living American opera composers. But Glass has been especially visible in Los Angeles for a long time. The Philip Glass…
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