Gender and the Death Trope in Judith Weir’s The Black Spider - Luis Matos-Tovar

In this week’s episode, Luis Matos-Tovar gives us a look into Judith Weir’s The Black Spider, a children's opera that challenges gendered expectations of women dying and men surviving that is common in many traditional operas. Weir does this in a manner that is musically accessible to younger performers with a story that is playful, somber, and triumphant.This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd along with Team Lead Matthew Ferrandino. Special thanks to peer reviewers Colleen Renihan and Evan Ware.SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/