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Number Our Days: A Photographic Oratorio

Apr 12—14, 2024

Music by Luna Pearl Woolf
Concept and Libretto by David Van Taylor
Based on Jamie Livingston’s “Photo Of the Day”
Conducted by Kamna Gupta
Directed by Ty Defoe
Co-Produced with Trinity Church Wall Street

How can we hold onto each other with joy, even in the face of inevitable loss?

Each day for 18 years, Jamie Livingston documented his life by taking a single Polaroid—until his death at age 41. Then his “Photo of the Day” went online, creating an immediate global sensation years before Instagram launched. With music for chorus, orchestra, and soloists by Grammy nominee Luna Pearl Woolf (Fire & Flood) and a non-fiction libretto by acclaimed filmmaker David Van Taylor (Good Ol’ Charles Schulz), this multi-media oratorio explores our era’s strange alchemy of technology, memory, and community.

A PAC NYC commission.

Polaroid photos by Jamie Livingston.

Ty Defoe
An indigiqueer individual with dark hair pulled back into a low ponytail wears a burnt orange sweater and stares straight ahead with a slight smile.
Ty Defoe Director
Kamna Gupta
A woman with dark cropped hair in a black blazer and black shirt has her body turned to her right with her face looking forward
Kamna Gupta Conductor
David Van Taylor
A white man with grey hair wears a red polo and black blazer
David Van Taylor Conceiver / Librettist
Luna Pearl Woolf
A white woman with should length brown hair and red glasses wears a navy blue shirt and a multi colored scarf. Her hair is windswept and she is looks forward with a serious expression
Luna Pearl Woolf Composer

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