Mary Finsterer

The Rising World is a fable of a kingdom assailed by a malign force. Nature seems at war with order – floods rise up from the earth, hailstorms and blizzards come from clear skies, and vents of steam erupt from dark corners. All this is due to the possession of the young heir to the throne by a water ghost, a chthonic spirit that has risen from a well and will not leave the princess’ body.

After conventional attempts to exorcise the princess fail, an artisan from the provinces is brought to the palace – she is a maker of water clocks, and has a detailed understanding of the compression, regulation and training of water. The artisan builds a strange device – is it a clock? Is it a trap? And will the water ghost leave history, and enter into a new sense of time?

As composer, my vision for The Rising World is to create a sound world where past and present converge, mirroring the opera’s musing on transience and transformation. Drawing from Renaissance polyphony, operatic tradition and avant-garde techniques, I have sought to weave a musical language that is both structured and fluid, much like the shifting nature of water—the opera’s central motif. 

The integration of traditional Korean instruments was essential in grounding the score in its cultural heritage while allowing it to expand into new sonic dimensions. The interplay between Latin, English and Korean in the vocal writing reflects the opera’s exploration of language, metaphor and time, while the fusion of vocal, orchestral and electronic elements creates a landscape where ancient echoes meet contemporary expression. Throughout, the music moves between mathematical precision and organic spontaneity, embodying the opera’s tension between order and chaos, past wisdom and an uncertain future. 

The Rising World is, at its core, a journey through sound, memory and fate—an invitation to a fairy tale of the times.