Tag: Opera

Philip Glass Festival: Madrigal Opera

About the Show

 National Sawdust is delighted to honor advisory board member Philip Glass during his 80th year. During 2017’s Spring Season, we will celebrate his groundbreaking oeuvre by showcasing solo and collaborative works, including his rarely performed MADRIGAL OPERA, directed by NS Artist in Residence, R. B. Schlather.

Written in 1980 and commissioned by the Holland Festival, this chamber opera is written for 6 voices, violin, and viola. “Madrigal Opera”, written for Dutch theater artist Rob Malasch, is conceived as an artful paradox: a music theatre work with no specific theatrical content. It was commissioned with the intent for creative interpretations by a theatrical director at hand, therefore differing itself from traditional opera form as it has no predetermined theatrical narrative. With NS Artist in Residence R. B. Schlather directing three outside the box performers – Vince Peterson leading Johnny Gandelsman and Choral Chameleon – the audience will engage in an unforgettable musical experience not to be missed.

Opera Cabal: Ken Ueno’s Aeolus

About the Show

 AEOLUS is a new opera combining throat singing, multiphonics indie-rock and electronics making its premiere here at National Sawdust. It is written and performed by Ken Ueno (Rome and Berlin Prizes winner) in collaboration with FLUX Quartet (“legendary for its furiously committed, untiring performances,” Alex Ross), and the “haunting, Björk-like vocals” (SF Classical Voice) of Majel Connery.

AEOLUS is inspired by the mythological keeper of the winds, Aeolus, from the Odyssey. In the classic tale, wind shapes human destiny. In the opera, wind, reinterpreted as breath, is a compositional tool. AEOLUS charts Ueno’s personal odyssey, linking impressionistic scenes from memories, found objects and literary fragments from the composer’s past. Musically, the opera juxtaposes “arias” by Ueno and Connery; virtuosic, voiceless passages by FLUX; and meditative textual interludes.

Raúl De Nieves and Colin Self: The Fool

The Kitchen presents Raúl De Nieves and Colin Self‘s The Fool, a chamber opera scored in four acts for chorus and string ensemble. The Fool is an allegorical journey drawing an ante-narrative around time, beauty, communion, and mortality. The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. The Fool is both the beginning and the end, neither and otherwise, betwixt and between. The Fool is a story. Starring Colin Self as the Old Woman, Raúl De Nieves as The Fool and the Dog, Alexandra Drewchin as the Child, and Mehron Abdollmohammadi as the Mother. Organized by Matthew Lyons.

Raúl De Nieves and Colin Self: The Fool,

The Kitchen presents Raúl De Nieves and Colin Self‘s The Fool, a chamber opera scored in four acts for chorus and string ensemble. The Fool is an allegorical journey drawing an ante-narrative around time, beauty, communion, and mortality. The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. The Fool is both the beginning and the end, neither and otherwise, betwixt and between. The Fool is a story. Starring Colin Self as the Old Woman, Raúl De Nieves as The Fool and the Dog, Alexandra Drewchin as the Child, and Mehron Abdollmohammadi as the Mother. Organized by Matthew Lyons.

Raúl De Nieves and Colin Self: The Fool

The Kitchen presents Raúl De Nieves and Colin Self‘s The Fool, a chamber opera scored in four acts for chorus and string ensemble. The Fool is an allegorical journey drawing an ante-narrative around time, beauty, communion, and mortality. The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. The Fool is both the beginning and the end, neither and otherwise, betwixt and between. The Fool is a story. Starring Colin Self as the Old Woman, Raúl De Nieves as The Fool and the Dog, Alexandra Drewchin as the Child, and Mehron Abdollmohammadi as the Mother. Organized by Matthew Lyons.

DUST by Robert Ashley

Hailed by Zachary Woolfe of the New York Times as “the most tantalizing operatic offering by a New York conservatory this season”, this production of DUST will feature students from The New School’s College of Performing Arts under the musical direction of long-time Ashley collaborator, Joan La Barbara.

Composed in 1998, DUST combines live mixing and sound processing, improvisation, and pre-recorded music, all over a libretto based off of the free-associations, conversations, and waking dreams of five “street people.” The highly experimental vocal delivery combines a range of traditional and unconventional vocal techniques, from singing and speaking to mumbling and whispering.

DUST by Robert Ashley

Hailed by Zachary Woolfe of the New York Times as “the most tantalizing operatic offering by a New York conservatory this season”, this production of DUST will feature students from The New School’s College of Performing Arts under the musical direction of long-time Ashley collaborator, Joan La Barbara.

Composed in 1998, DUST combines live mixing and sound processing, improvisation, and pre-recorded music, all over a libretto based off of the free-associations, conversations, and waking dreams of five “street people.” The highly experimental vocal delivery combines a range of traditional and unconventional vocal techniques, from singing and speaking to mumbling and whispering.

DUST by Robert Ashley

Hailed by Zachary Woolfe of the New York Times as “the most tantalizing operatic offering by a New York conservatory this season”, this production of DUST will feature students from The New School’s College of Performing Arts under the musical direction of long-time Ashley collaborator, Joan La Barbara.

Composed in 1998, DUST combines live mixing and sound processing, improvisation, and pre-recorded music, all over a libretto based off of the free-associations, conversations, and waking dreams of five “street people.” The highly experimental vocal delivery combines a range of traditional and unconventional vocal techniques, from singing and speaking to mumbling and whispering.

DUST by Robert Ashley

Hailed by Zachary Woolfe of the New York Times as “the most tantalizing operatic offering by a New York conservatory this season”, this production of DUST will feature students from The New School’s College of Performing Arts under the musical direction of long-time Ashley collaborator, Joan La Barbara.

Composed in 1998, DUST combines live mixing and sound processing, improvisation, and pre-recorded music, all over a libretto based off of the free-associations, conversations, and waking dreams of five “street people.” The highly experimental vocal delivery combines a range of traditional and unconventional vocal techniques, from singing and speaking to mumbling and whispering.