Oracle Hysterical’s Hecuba

“Hecuba” is a lush and experimental rock-leaning album based on Euripides’ tragedy of the same name. Written around 424 BCE in Athens, Hecuba is a savage story of revenge in which the disgraced queen of Troy, Hecuba, with her city razed and her children murdered, descends from nobility to primal violence.  A week before the national release on May 13 at National Sawdust, Oracle Hysterical will debut the album at Taplin Auditorium in Princeton, with a post-performance discussion featuring Brooke Holmes and Josh Billings.

Oracle Hysterical is twin brothers Doug Balliett (double bass, viola da gamba) and Brad Balliett (bassoons), Majel Connery (vocals, keyboards), Elliot Cole (vocals, guitars, keyboards), and Dylan Greene (percussion). Part band, part book club, Oracle Hysterical combines eclectic musical influences with literary breadth. All members of the group perform and compose, with each project developed collectively.

This performance is free and open to the public.  It is co-sponsored by the Departments of Classics and Music and Postclassicisms.