IN Series will present the world premiere of SONG OF SAKUNTALA, a new opera presented as an illuminated concert, composed by IN Series Artistic Director Timothy Nelson, this June. Performances will take place at Washington, DC’s Atlas Performing Arts Center on June 6 & 7, 12–14, and Baltimore’s Baltimore Theatre Project June 19–21. These performances will be the final of the IN Series 25/26 season, capping off a year full of world premieres and immersive performances. Tickets start at $25 and are available now at www.inseries.org.
Conceived as a 90-minute, uninterrupted concert in the spirit of Indian classical musical performances, Song of Sakuntala is drawn from Kalidasa’s 5th century play Shakuntala — a deeply important text of South Asian literature, often compared in importance to Shakespeare’s Hamlet — and from poetry by three landmark Indian poets: Rabindranath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu, and Vidyapati, as well as sacred Mahabharata words. The work unfolds across seven acts built on a palindromic structure, performed over a single continuous drone, for an ensemble of oboe, viola da gamba, violin, sitar, and tabla. The production will feature singers Aryssa Leigh Burrs, Teresa Ferrara, and Marvin Wayne Allen. The instrumental ensemble is led by acclaimed sitarist Rajib Karmakar, who specializes in bridging Indian and Western classical traditions and has collaborated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the LA Master Chorale, and composers including Reena Esmail.
Song of Sakuntala traces a timeless story from the Mahabharata: a prince and a woman of the forest fall in love and wed in secret. He departs, and she later seeks him out, only to have him deny all recognition of her. She disappears in sorrow; he spends the rest of his life searching. At the end, in the same forest where they first met, they find each other again and are transfigured. Nelson’s libretto weaves together words by the poets Tagore, Naidu, and Vidyapati into a collage of South Asian storytelling that beautifully highlights the themes of love, loss, and redemption found in this timeless tale.
“Writing SONG OF SAKUNTALA was a journey of personal discovery during a period of processing deep grief,” said IN Series Artistic Director Timothy Nelson. “The project was suggested to me by director Peter Sellars, who also suggested the form that it might take. Through a careful, deep, and humble process of exploring Indian classical music, the score wraps in aesthetic concepts from that tradition but is its own new musical language. Instead of writing a libretto myself or collaborating with a living poet, I ‘troped’ the words of three important South Asian poetic voices. The work is meant as a meditation on love, longing, and the space between the body and the soul.”
“The SONG OF SAKUNTALA represents exactly the kind of ambitious, cross-cultural, and rigorous work that strengthens IN Series’ position as a national leader in artistic innovation while deepening community partnerships and helping advance the company’s long-term institutional growth,” said IN Series Executive Director David Mack. “We’re honored to return to the Atlas Performing Arts Center to present this work during their 20th Anniversary year.”
Song of Sakuntala, presented by IN Series, performs June 6-14 at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St NE, Washington, DC, and June 19-21 at Baltimore Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St, Baltimore, MD. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:00 PM and Sundays at 2:30 PM. Tickets for DC performances range from $40-$75, with limited numbers of $40 general admission tickets available with code GENERAL40 and $25 tickets for students and artists available with code COMMUNITY25. Purchase DC tickets online here. Tickets for Baltimore performances are $35 general admission, $25 for students. Purchase Baltimore tickets online here.
ABOUT IN SERIES
IN Series is a performing arts company that produces new and reimagined works of opera, theater and music. The company’s work is surprising, innovative, intimate, immersive and transformational. IN Series blends sources and styles from across history and the world to be both timeless and timely. Collaborating with artists both locally and globally, the IN Series team is community based and at home both in Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD. Under the artistic leadership of Timothy Nelson, the company has established itself as a hub for thought, debate and historical innovation. Ultimately, IN Series strives to make the performing arts an essential and integrated part of the global collective conversation.
Founded by Carla Hübner in 1982 as a concert series of the former Mount Vernon College, then named, “The IN Series,” became an independent non-profit arts organization in 2000. Timothy Nelson assumed the artistic directorship in 2018, quickly establishing the newly rebranded “IN Series” as DC’s home for “Thought, debate, history, and innovation” in opera. The company hired its first Executive Director, David Mack, in 2025 and has recently joined 4EYE Film Center and Theater Alliance as the primary partners at a new multidisciplinary arts hub opening in early Fall 2026 in Southwest DC.
