The Encantadas

THE ENCANTADAS, narrated by Sir John Gielgud, was commissioned by the Albany Academy to celebrate its one hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary and was first performed by the Albany Symphony in October 1983. Herman Melville's The Encantadas was first published in 1854. Melville had visited the Galapagos Islands in 1841, just six years after Darwin's famous voyage there. Picker's six movements depict their 'enchanted' quality, not just the bleakness but also the romance, the strangeness, the wild beauty, and in the forth and fifth movements, the busy bird life. The final movement, Dawn, displays Picker in his most lyrical and transcendent voice. THE ENCANTADAS has been performed throughout the world and translated into seven languages.