For young people who aspire to a career in the arts, the experience serves as an introduction to the many jobs that exist on and backstage. But no matter what path they pursue in life, they will leave the experience with an appreciation for the hard work—and great reward—associated with artistic creation.

Most of the holiday operas we have presented have been commissions. I think it’s important for young artists to work with living composers and librettists. What better way to demonstrate that opera is a living art form?

Jungle Book has had a long journey to get to the stage. I first approached composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Kelley Rourke to create a new youth opera that would premiere as part of the 2020 Glimmerglass Festival. At that time, the refugee crisis was front and center in the headlines, and the story of a human cub seeking shelter seemed an appropriate metaphor. Because of the pandemic, Jungle Book had to wait another two years to make its debut, but its central conflict remained resonant then, and it still does today.

After the opera’s success at Glimmerglass, we commissioned Kamala and Kelley to create an expanded version, with orchestra, for WNO. The expanded instrumental palette allowed Kamala to further realize one of our main goals for the piece: to give Kipling’s story of India a sonic environment that draws from Indian classical music traditions. We’ve also collaborated with Taal Academy of Dance, a D.C.-based Indian dance school, to add another dimension to the experience.

Jungle Book is a celebration of family in all its dimensions. The blood ties of the wolf pack run deep, but the young wolves find that their lives are enriched when they extend their ideas of family to include others not like them. The rehearsal and production process creates a new kind of family when a group of artists—novice and experienced—come together to put on a show.

Finally, this opera is a celebration of our global family and its many kinds of artistic expression. We wish you and your family—however you define it—a season filled with discovery, joy and love.

The cubs argue about whether Mowgli should be allowed to stay with the pack (“She doesn’t look like us”). Baloo appears and they ask him to settle the argument. After conducting his own inspection, Baloo advises the cubs that Mowgli could be useful. Mowgli, more confident now, shows off (“These hands of mine”). Baloo is just about to exploit Mowgli’s capabilities when Hyena shows up. She mocks the wolves and Mowgli (“I hear”) and runs off to report to Shere Khan. Bagheera enters and tells of living among the humans (“It was early morning”).

Baloo leads the cubs in a lesson (“If you want to run with the best kind of pack”). The cubs play together (“Hey Mowgli, can you do this?”) and realize their differences make them stronger (“The Heart that Beats”).

Shere Khan lurks around the edge of the pack, but the united group of wolves stands tall, and he dares not approach. Mowgli wonders why Shere Khan never came into the village, and Bagheera sings of the red flower. Raksha tells the cubs it’s time to nap (“The palm leaves rustle”). While the others sleep, Mowgli decides to run to the village and obtain the red flower for the pack.

Baloo enjoys a moment of quiet (“A Bear Can Dream, Too”). On waking, the wolf cubs begin to play (“The Playfulest Pack”). Their antics are interrupted when the Rebel Cubs tell the others that Mowgli has gone to the village; an argument breaks out (“She doesn’t look like us” reprise). 

Suddenly, Shere Khan is among the pack, which is now divided—and vulnerable (“A Cat Like Me” reprise). He seizes one of the cubs. Mowgli appears, holding the red flower high (“The Red Flower”), and Shere Khan yields to her. As Shere Khan cowers, Little Brother remembers something Raksha once said—Shere Khan is mean because he has no pack of his own. She suggests they can be his pack—and Hyena’s, too. The entire ensemble sings of how their differences make them stronger (“The Heart That Beats” reprise).

—Kelley Rourke is the librettist of Jungle Book and serves as Artistic Advisor for the WNO’s American Opera Initiative. 

The story of Mowgli, the vulnerable human cub who sparks an argument among the wolf pack, is the best known, and it’s no surprise. Questions of “who’s in, who’s out” preoccupy many species, including our own, whether in a school cafeteria or at a country’s borders. With this opera, we see how compassion and acceptance can make a group stronger.

Kipling’s legacy is complicated. His love for India—its people and its land— was sincere, but his perspective was undeniably colonialist. This opera is our attempt to marry Kipling’s most beloved characters with the rich classical music traditions of South Asia—traditions that predate European classical music by hundreds of years.

“Indian classical music, which is called Hindustani music in Northern India and Carnatic music in Southern India, uses a system of notes called ragas,” explains Jungle Book composer Kamala Sankaram. “The word ‘raga’ can be translated as ‘color,’ and that’s what Indian classical music is all about—using the notes of the raga to create a specific color or mood. The raga system is very detailed—to really know a raga, you have to know which notes are most important, how the notes can be played in relationship to each other, how to ornament the note in order to show its beauty, and so on.”

For this opera, Sankaram chose ragas that have firm associations with particular moods. For instance, Raga Bhoopali is joyful, so it appears in scenes where the wolf cubs are playing. Raga Hindol, which is used to signal the approach of Shere Khan, is more mysterious and angry.

Indian musicians learn ragas through a syllabic system called sargam, which is also present in the Jungle Book score. (Sargam has its parallel in the Western solfège system, which many people learned via Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Do Re Mi,” from The Sound of Music.) The opera’s rhythmic patterns also offer an exciting new challenge for cast members; most classical Western music is built on patterns of two, three, or four beats, but patterns based on five and seven beats are common in Carnatic music.

Konnakol (vocal percussion) adds another color to the soundscape, as does the harmonium, which is used as a special effect toward the end of the piece. While the harmonium, which has a keyboard similar to a pianos but is played with a bellows, has become associated with Indian music, Kamala notes that it is “actually an interloper—it is a Western instrument that became part of the performance tradition during colonization. Because it has fixed notes, it can’t capture a lot of the ornaments, slides or shakes that are part of the melodies that are played by stringed instruments, or sung.”

“I grew up surrounded by both the Western classical music my mom was playing, as well as the Carnatic music my dad listened to,” says Kamala, who was born and raised in California. “I studied Western music from when I was a little kid—I played piano and sang in choir. When I went to India as a teenager, my grandfather learned I was studying music and gave me a sitar so I would learn about Indian music, the second side of my heritage. I’m excited to bring together these two musical traditions, not only to help create a sense of place in the story, but to offer members of the youth chorus a greater sense of the world and commonalities between cultures.”

There are three parts to Bharatanatyam: Nritta (pure dance), Nritya (expressive dance conveying meaning), and Natya (dramatic storytelling with the character). In Jungle Book we have used all three. It is such a beautiful combination of music, dance, and drama.

Nritta includes vocal phrases like “Ta-ka-di-mi-ta, ki-ta-ta-ka-d” or “Tai-Tai- Tham, Tai-Tai-Tham.” We have also used Nritya to tell the story and Natya to portray different animals in Bharatanatyam dance style, conveying a powerful message through movement. It is such a beautiful combination of music, dance, and drama.