Tag: opera

THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING at Hollywood Fringe

I simply cannot wait to see my 5-minute opera, THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING: A LOVE STORY, composed by Joshua Brown, presented in animated form with a live singer at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival.

New Opera West will feature THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING along with two other video projects at a two-night event at the Hudson Guild Theatre. Tickets are free, drinks are complimentary, and both evenings will be followed by a brief talkback with the artists (including me) – so come hang out!

This piece was animated by the talented Ankita Panda, and will have live vocals by Maria Lindsey. New Opera West will also release the animation in a digital format, with vocals by Colleen McGovern.

Alter Ego Chamber Opera Commission: NASRIN – CENSORED

So excited to be developing this new opera with Ramin Akhavijou, who I also worked with on CMU’s Co-Opera at Pittsburgh Opera. We will be headed to Philadelphia in the spring to workshop NASRIN – CENSORED with the support of Alter Ego Chamber Opera, who will produce it in the fringe festival in fall 2022. I have been learning a lot about the incredible work of real-life heroine Nasrin Sotoudeh, and I’m big-time inspired to write this opera about her. Can’t wait for all my Philly folks to check it out.

The Box Is The Universe: A Tiny Evening of Puppets and Opera at Bricolage

So happy to have my mini-opera THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE UNIVERSE be part of THE BOX IS THE UNIVERSE: A TABLETOPERA. My piece was one of three mini-operas produced in a storage container with my cool collaborators The Off-Book Club as part Bricolage Production Company’s Bazaar Fundraiser!

The other two operas had librettos written by DT Burns and Lauren D’Errico, music for all 3 was by Joshua Brown, set design by Sasha Schwartz, performance by Colleen Michelle McGovern with DT Burns on puppets and heat lamps and everything else.

THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING was a non-visual sensory experience designed to be accessible for vision-impaired audiences. All audience members wore blindfolds and listened the the opera while heat-lamps were employed to create a sense of warmth and light as the universe came into existence-in just five minutes!

Pictures by Sasha Schwartz.