American Recorder Society - American Recorder Society

Date/Time

4/24/2026 - 4/25/2026
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM Eastern

Event Type(s)

Concert

Event Description

A lost queer story from medieval London comes to life in a new opera

Alkemie premieres ELEANOR, a brand-new queer chamber opera by Niccolo Seligmann, on April 24 & 25, 2026.

This semi-staged performance at the experimental New Stage Performance Space on the Upper West Side dives into the story of Eleanor Rykener, a gender-nonconforming person arrested in London in 1394 while presenting as a woman. We only have one surviving document about Eleanor’s life, so we can’t know her full story – but this piece uses that fragment as a starting point to explore identity, gender, and belonging in the medieval world.

Niccolo Seligmann (they/them) brings a deeply personal lens to the work, and the role of Eleanor will be premiered by non-binary soprano Elisse Albian. Librettist and composer Seligmann says that “Queer and trans people have always been here, and Eleanor Rykener’s story proves this. Celebrating the few queer and trans ancestors who’ve made it into the historical record is an important way of connecting with our communal past and gives us hope for a queer and trans future.”

Funded in part by The Amphion Foundation

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