I love Two-Headed Calf. Brendan Connelly, Brooke O’Harra and their rotating cast of collaborators are always making work that is adventurous, challenging and usually pretty fun. For “You, My Mother” they’ve brought together some super-duper stars of downtown including Bessie-winning playwright/choreographer Karinne Keithley Syers, Obie Award-winning composer Rick Burkhardt and Obie-winning playwright Kristen Kosmas to make what is sure to be a fascinating adventure in contemporary opera. Performed by the talented Yarn/Wire + Strings ensemble, this should be very compelling stuff.

“You, My Mother” is a chamber opera project in two parts exploring the elusive and ever-shifting relationships between mothers and their adult children. The piece is performed by Two-Headed Calf regulars Laryssa Husiak and Mike Mikos, along with new music vocalists Kate Soper (Wet Ink Ensemble) and Beth Griffith (musical affiliations include John Cage, Morton Feldman and Karlheinz Stockhausen). Accompanying them is the acclaimed new music ensemble Yarn/Wire + Strings, consisting of Ian Antonio (percussion), Laura Barger (piano), Russell Greenberg (percussion), Joshua Modney (violin), Mariel Roberts (cello) and Ning Yu (keyboard).

Here’s a sample of the music:

[audio: http://www.culturebot.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/You-My-Mother-Part-One.mp3]

The creative team also includes Barbara Lanciers (Choreography), Ahram Jeong (Projection Design), Chris Kuhl (Scenic and Light Design), Yoonkyung Lim (Projection Design), Alice Taverner (Costume Design) and Justin Townsend (Scenic and Light Design).

You, My Mother runs Off-Broadway from February 9 – 20, 2012 in a limited engagement at La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, located at 66 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue & the Bowery in New York City. Performances are Thursdays – Sundays at 7:30pm, along with Saturdays matinees at 2:30pm and an additional performance on Monday, February 20 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for students/seniors and can be purchased online at LaMaMa.org, in person at the box office or by calling 212-475-7710.

The running time is 70 minutes.