Spring Preview: Directions for Making a Round Ark
Sun, Mar 29
|New York
A chamber opera inspired by a 3,700-year-old Babylonian flood tablet. DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A ROUND ARK dramatizes the stunning discovery by Irving Finkel that the original ark was a massive circular coracle, predating the biblical story by over three millennia.
Time & Location
Mar 29, 2026, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
New York, 121 West 27th Street Suite 201
About the event
Artistic Direction: Stanzi Vaubel
Composed by: Stanzi Vaubel and Philippe Treuille
In collaboration with: Brooklyn Youth Chorus Bass Ensemble, Grace Chorale, Brooklyn Treble Choir, Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra, and the New York Choir Project
Flood myths are among the oldest stories recorded in human history. The terror of annihilation is universal. We have always feared the worst: could everything disappear? This work weaves together the flood narratives that predate Noah's Ark. It tells the story of a Babylonian Ark Tablet which describes Atra-Hasis (the heroic Babylonian equivalent of Noah) ordained with the task of building a huge circular coracle, akin to a giant bowl-like raft, designed to ride out the floods that were to end all of humanity.
Everyone knows the myth of Noah’s Ark and can envision the scene of elephants and tigers lining up to weather a storm to end all times. For many, this story is…