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OCEANIC
VERSES
a B e t h M o r r i s o n P r o j e c t s & V i s i o n I n t o A r t p re m i e re
created and composed by Paola Prestini
libretto by Donna Di Novelli
story created in collaboration
with Paola Prestini, Ali Hossaini,
Kevin Newbury & Helga Davis
film by Ali Hossaini
directed by Kevin Newbury
conducted by Julian Wachner
featuring vocalists
Christopher Burchett, Helga Davis,
Nancy Allen Lundy, & Claudio Prima
with The Washington Chorus
& The Brooklyn Youth Chorus
and NOVUS NY:
the contemporary music ensemble
of Trinity Wall Street
choreography for film by
Pieter Scholten & Emio Greco
featuring dancer Emio Greco
production design by Vita Tzykun
projection and video design by S. Katy Tucker
lighting design by Allen Hahn
commissioned by VisionIntoArt
with special thanks to Gus Rigoli,
Jill & Bill Steinberg, Melville Straus, and Diane Volk
produced by Beth Morrison Projects
in association with The Washington Chorus,
Trinity Wall Street & the River to River Festival
Italian Production Consultant, Alessandra Pomarico
with funding from Puglia Sounds
“PRESTINI'S PROJECT IS A
UNIQUE REFLECTION ON THE
ARTIST'S PERCEPTION OF
IDENTITY AND EXCHANGE IN
THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD.”
- The Huffington Post
TABLE of CONTENTS
MEDIA: AUDIO & VIDEO 3
CONCEPT 4
COMPOSER’S NOTE 6
SETTING & CHARACTERS 8
CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES 9
CONTACT 17
“A COHESIVE 80-MINUTE
PACKAGE”
- The Wall Street Journal
MEDIA:
AUDIO & VIDEO
TRAILER VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/43923286
FULL PERFORMANCE VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/46140245
FOR AUDIO TRACKS, FILM STILLS, and MORE VIDEO: http://paolaprestini.com/projects/oceanic-verses/
“THE APPLAUSE,
AT THE END, WAS
LONG AND LOUD”
- The Wall Street Journal
4
CONCEPT
S e t a g a i n s t t h e b a c k d r o p o f t h e M e d i t e r r a n e a n
Sea, Oceanic Verses follows the stories of four characters united by their
d e s i re t o u n e a r t h a n d u n c ove r t h e p a s t . A m e d i t a t i o n o n
fading civilizations, the journey is led by an archaeologist, (improviser
Helga Davis) whose investigation of immigration leads her to a Sailor
(folksinger Claudio Prima) searching for lost songs; a Peasant (soprano
Nancy Allen Lundy) seeking a better life for her future children; and a
Soldier (Christopher Burchett) searching for a good meal. Each of the four characters has an abstraction of his/her essence or
inner life in a film by Ali Hossaini that is projected throughout
t h e p e r f o r m a n c e . T h e s e s e q u e n c e s a r e p a r t o f a l a r g e r
“video environment” that recreates the atmosphere of the Mediterranean
and immerses the opera’s players and audience in the folkloric landscape
that inspired it. Hossaini’s contribution amplifies the presence of the main
characters while giving Oceanic Verses a broad sense of place that is
impossible with a traditional set. S. Katy joined to design the video for
stage, and contextualize it further into the dramatic arc of the opera.
Along with the principal performers and their on-screen counterparts,
Oceanic Verses features the 12-piece ensemble NOVUS NY: the
contemporary music ensemble of Trinity Wall Street and 40members from The Washington Chorus. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus
Academy will join the company for the New York premiere. Maestro Julian
Wachner conducts.
The piece was commissioned by Carnegie Hall in 2009 and began as an
operatic tableau of rituals spanning Prestini’s Italian heritage. This shorter
concert version of the work paid homage to Italian folk music throughout
the ages, from the Salento, Genoa and Sardinia regions of the county.
Inspired by five millennia of folk music—and the work of American
ethnomusicologist and folklorist Alan Lomax—Prestini’s score combines
field recordings she made in Salento with reconstructions she undertook
o f a n c i e n t m u s i c a n d o r i g i n a l m u s i c i n w h i c h s h e e c h o e s
contemporary Italian singers Fabrizio D’Andre and Robert Licci.
Donna Di Novelli joined the team as Prestini began to enlarge and form the
work into an opera. Di Novelli structured the piece by weaving her own
original work together with a selection of archetypal Italian texts: from
songs and poems written by Vittoria Colonna, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Dante
Alighieri and Aleandro Aleardi. The opera is sung in a variety of dialects
including Griko, Genoese, and Sardinian.
5
“WHILE ALL THE
PIECES ON VOX 2011
WERE EXCELLENT
IN THEIR OWN
PARTICULAR WAYS,
I HAVE TO SAY THAT
OCEANIC VERSES WAS
THE ONE THAT MADE
THE HAIR ON THE
BACK OF MY NECK
STAND UP FOR THE
SHEER VISCERAL
PLEASURE OF THE
MUSICAL LANGUAGE.”
- Ed Yim, New York Philharmonic
COMPOSER’S NOTE
Oceanic Verses began as a Carnegie commission-created from sourced text taken through the ages; it was chamber work that painted
a picture of Italy as it once was, a cross section of cultures expressed through song. By examining and researching the Salento region
which maintains many ancient traditions and still speaks a nearly forgotten language, I created a work that illuminated the complex
ethnic mosaic that has shaped my cultural heritage. The story was derived from the texts of the songs chosen and intermittent poems
from a variety of Italian poets through time such as Vittoria Colonna, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Dante Alighieri and Aleardi. Oceanic Verses
is sung in various dialects including Griko, Byzantine Greek, Arabic, Ladino, and Bourbon Spanish, coloring the work with the ethnic
influences of Salento region. Each tableau illuminated a different ritual from the Salento and Sardinian regions of Italy, from
weddings, to curative rituals. Oceanic Verses combined fragments of folk traditions and music that date as far back as 3000 BC,
field samples from research in the Salento region, and my original music. As I expanded the work through the prism of four
archetypal characters, (Mother, Sailor, Soldier, Queen) for New York City Opera's Vox festival, I decided the work would combine 3 vocal
styles: an improviser (Helga Davis), a folksinger (Claudio Prima), and 2 classically trained singers (Christopher Burchett and Nancy
Allen Lundy).
Ali Hossaini, the film maker was then brought on to the project. He decided early on to avoid the conventions of cinema, and work to
cultivate his poetic approach to visual media in the tradition of Andrei Tarkovsky and Sergei Paradjanov. My exploration of lost songs began in 2007, when I was in residence at Sound Res in Lecce, Italy, and my understanding of Italy and
my own heritage expanded, and I became acutely aware of this ancient isthmus to be in a geographical position to make it a cross
cultural land full of artistic hybrids. I began to record sound samples. It was during this festival that I recorded “Fimmene” an ancient
field song, sung by 13 year old girls. Fimmene then became the backing track to the movement of the same title in the opera. The
poignancy of having young girls singing such mature themed lyrics is sharply contrasted by a women’s choir singing the same text
live. Fimmene is a song from a Greek minority known as the "Griko" living in Southern Italy. It is a work song from Salento that
addresses the social issue of the working conditions of agricultural laborers, specifically the sexual exploitation of women. The women
would come in two, and leave in four, having become pregnant. The backing track incorporates field samples I recorded. The
adolescent girls I interviewed sang the song beautifully then answered questions regarding their views on the words. Their
answers highlight the disparity between innocence and accepted wisdom and their voices rub sharply against the live interpretation of
what is simultaneously sung.
Fimmene fimmene ca sciati allu tabaccu
‘nde sciati dhoi e ne turnati a quattro
Women, women who go to work in the fields, you
go in pairs and return in four.
This example above, demonstrates the process in which I created the work. As I "found" more songs, texts and rituals throughout the
centuries they became part of a collage illuminating specific rituals from regions in Italy such as Salento, Genoa, and Sardinia. By
focusing on the rituals of marriage, mourning, and curative rituals, I created a road map for Oceanic Verses that sailed through time.
Using the structure created by Donna DiNovelli, and additional text (some culled from interviews with Prima and Davis), the work
became a multilingual work meditating on fading civilizations. Finally, working with Hossaini, the collaborators joined forces in
Southern Italy to create a series of visual icons to portray the emotional intensity of the story and to make the landscape the final
character in this opera. An opera, exploring the complexity this character--my native land--with its layers of invasions and empire
building; the nexus of emigration and immigration; in constant flux and transformation as it remains a three-sided port of call, has
become a metaphor for a today’s global struggle with issues of borders and immigration and how it collides with one woman’s search
for her internal geography. Oceanic Verses has provided me with the opportunity to combine the disparate artistic threads that make
up my own artistic palette into one synergistic body of work. I am deeply thankful for this incredible team of collaborators.
“A POLISHED, ROBUST
PERFORMANCE”
- The New York Times
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"THIS IS, I THINK,
WHAT WILL MAKE US
WANT TO SEE THIS
AGAIN AND AGAIN –
WE’LL TAKE
SOMETHING
COMPLETELY NEW
FROM IT EACH TIME
WE SEE IT."
- Opera Pulse
7
SETTING &
CHARACTERS
SETTING:
The Mediterranean Sea that beckons. The past, present and future shores of Southern Italy where the Sea ends in a rage and a whisper.
CHARACTERS:
THE SCHOLAR
American. Searching the land to understand the Archaeology of Desire.
THE SAILOR
Part Italian, part Greek, part Albanian, part African: he is only at home on the waves and winds of the Adriatic sea. When he is on
land he sails on song and wine. Loves getting lost.
THE PEASANT
A ghost. Pugliese. Tied by her own apron strings. Always hungry. Smarter than dirt.
THE SOLDIER
A ghost lover. Southern Italian, tied to the land. Famished. There’s a revolutionary beneath his uniform.
TIME:
The present and the past. Side by side. The Scholar and the Sailor live now.
The Peasant and Soldier in the eternal past. Yet they meet.
“AN INQUISITIVELY
PROGRESSIVE PIECE”
- Opera Pulse
8
CREATIVE TEAM
BIOGRAPHIES
“Renaissance songs, folk melodies that
may be even older, and 19th-century
popular tunes are all given updated
chamber accompaniments that mesh
smoothly with Ms. Prestini’s own
agreeable linking music. And the
characters have sound worlds of their
own. The scholar’s music, for example,
embraces blues and gospel turns, with
improvised scat during the full-cast
finale. Often the songs and choral
settings are painted in the bright hues
and varied rhythms of folk exotica, and
you get the feeling that if “Oceanic
Verses” finds a place in the canon, it will
be as an operatic equivalent to what
pieces like “Missa Luba” and “Missa
Criolla” are to sacred music.”
- The New York Times
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CREATOR & COMPOSER PAOLA PRESTINI
Paola Prestini is a composer, and entrepreneur. In 1999, she co-founded VisionIntoArt, an interdisciplinary production company that
has created over 50 multimedia productions worldwide and has been called “always intriguing and frequently beguiling…” by the New
York Times. She was recently appointed the Creative Director of the Brooklyn based new venue and non profit, Original Music
Workshop (OMW). Named by NPR as one of the Top 100 composers in the World under 40, her compositions have been deemed
“radiant…[and] amorously evocative” by The New York Times, and praised by composers such as Terry Riley, ” music [that] speaks
from the heart and inspires…” and by Osvaldo Golijov, “wrenching and tender and luminous and pure and exuberant: always vivid and
always generous…” Her Tzadik release BODY MAPS has been featured on WQXR and Q2 and showcases new music’s great soloists.
She has been commissioned and performed by the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony, the Kronos Quartet,
MATA, and New York City Opera (VOX). Her interdisciplinary collaborations with artists Erika Harrsch, Ali Hossaini, Carmen Kordas,
and S. Katy Tucker have been lauded by TimeOut NY as “Ingeniously staged concert pieces that gracefully walk the line between opera
and performance art.” Her work has been presented worldwide, in venues ranging from Zankel Hall, The Kitchen, The Whitney
Museum, and the Stone in New York, to Etnafest in Sicily, Milano’s Teatro Manzoni, and BEMUS in Belgrade, Serbia. Current projects
include works at BAM Next Wave Festival, the Barbican Centre with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Harare International Festival of
the Arts, and the Krannert Center in collaborations with artists such as Maya Beiser, Julian Crouch, Cornelius Dufallo, Rinde Eckert,
and Gabriel Kahane. Ms. Prestini’s residencies include MASS MoCA, the Hermitage Retreat, Sound Res, Sundance, and LMCC
Governor’s Island. She is currently a Musical Exchange Fellow for Carnegie Hall and was a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow. She is a
founding member of the Very Young Composers program at the New York Philharmonic for which she edited a book and has taught
world-wide, from inner city schools in NY, to El Sistema in Venezuela. Ms. Prestini’s awards have come from the American Music
Center, ASCAP, Opera America, Meet the Composer, the BMI Fund, NYSCA, Concert Artist Guild, and The Cary Trust. She received her
BM and MM at the Juilliard School and has studied with Samuel Adler, Robert Beaser, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
FILM ARTIST ALI HOSSAINI is an artist, philosopher and business executive who works at the cutting edge of media. Having
collaborated with talent ranging from Robert Wilson to Brad Pitt, his personal work and his productions have been exhibited in
museums, galleries and festivals internationally, winning acclaim from Vanity Fair, Cool Hunting and many other outlets, including The
New York Times, which calls him "a biochemist turned philosopher turned television producer turned visual poet."
LIBRETTIST DONNA DI NOVELLI
As a librettist and lyricist, Donna Di Novelli collaborates with composers from around the world to create opera and music-theater. Heart of a Solider, written with composer Christopher Theofanidis was commissioned by the San Francisco Opera, and premiered in
September 2011. She wrote lyrics for Rachel Portman’s 2008 musical Little House on the Prairie which broke all box office records
during its premiere at the Guthrie Theater and then continued on a national tour. She wrote text for Hildegard: A Measure of Joy,
commissioned by the San Francisco Grammy-winning vocal ensemble, Chanticleer. She has also collaborated with Randall Eng for
many years, most notably on the jazz influenced opera, Florida. DiNovelli has written text for the Los Angeles Modern Dance and
Ballet's Twelve Dancing Princesses and her radio plays have been broadcast on the BBC, and NPR. Her stage play, The First Eff (Mark
Taper Forum) was excerpted in New Monologues For Women; by Women (Heinemann Press). She has won commissions and
fellowships from the Manhattan Theater Club, ASCAP, Mabou Mines, Houston Grand Opera, the Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio, Italy),
the National Musical Theater Conference, the Mac Dowell Colony, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Besides teaching libretto writing
in the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, she teaches playwriting at the
National Theater Institute at the O’Neill Theater Center and was a visiting professor at Brown University, where she earned a master’s
degree in playwriting. She is working on a new musical, The Good Swimmer,with composer Heidi Rodewald (Passing Strange) and a
new opera with Paola Prestini. Her work has been presented at the New York City Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland, the Public Theater, the
Guthrie Theater, Le Poisson Rouge and Joe’s Pub.
DIRECTOR KEVIN NEWBURY is a theatre and opera director based in New York City. Recent opera credits include Maria Stuarda
(Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera), Roberto Devereux (L’Opera de Montreal, Minnesota Opera), Galileo Galilei (Portland Opera),
Die Liebe der Danae (Bard Summerscape), Virginia (Wexford Opera Festival – Winner Irish Times Award for Best Opera
Production), Falstaff and the world premiere of Life is a Dream (Santa Fe Opera), Werther (Minnesota Opera), Eugene Onegin (Opera
10
Theatre of St. Louis), El Nino (San Francisco Symphony), Hänsel und Gretel (Virginia Opera), Rappahannock County (world premiere;
Virginia Arts Festival/Virginia Opera, National Tour), La Cenerentola (Glimmerglass Opera), and Bernstein’s Mass (Carnegie Hall, Kennedy
Center; Grammy nomination). Recent New York theater credits include Candy and Dorothy (GLAAD Media Award Winner: Best Play,
Drama Desk Nominee), The Second Tosca, and Kiss and Cry (GLAAD Nominee). Upcoming engagements include the world premieres of
The Gospel According to Mary Magdelene (San Francisco Opera), Oscar (Santa Fe Opera and Opera Compay of Philadelphia), Doubt
(Minnesota Opera), Oceanic Verses (River-to-River Festival/NYC, Barbican/UK), and Fellow Travelers (NYC). Other upcoming projects
include La Boheme (Central City Opera), Anna Bolena (Chicago Lyric Opera, Minnesota Opera) and the film Mothra is Waiting.
TRINITY WALL STREET is one of the oldest, largest and most vibrant of all Episcopal parishes, and is located in the heart of New York’s
financial district, where it has created a dynamic home for great music. Now in their second season under noted conductor, composer
and keyboardist Julian Wachner, the ensembles of Trinity Wall Street continue to present both sacred and secular music at the highest
levels of musicianship and artistry. Serving as principal conductor of the Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Wachner also
oversees all liturgical, professional and community Music and Arts programming at Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel. The Trinity
Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra offer a full season of concerts ranging from large-scale oratorios to intimate evenings of a cappella
singing and chamber music.
THE WASHINGTON CHORUS
Founded in 1961 as the Oratorio Society of Washington, The Washington Chorus is noted for its critically acclaimed performances and
recordings of the entire range of the choral repertoire. A Grammy Award winner and cultural leader in the Washington area, The
Washington Chorus is currently in its 51st season. The Chorus, under direction of music director Julian Wachner, presents an annual
subscription series at the Kennedy Center, the Music Center at Strathmore, and other major venues throughout the Washington D.C.
area. The Chorus also frequently appears at the invitation of the National Symphony Orchestra and with the Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra. TWC has sung under the direction of many of the world’s greatest conductors, including Christoph Eschenbach, Leonard
Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Neville Marriner, Charles Dutoit, Kent Nagano,Marin Alsop,
and many others. A leader in its commitment to the support of new music, the Chorus has instituted a multiyear concert series, New
Music for a New Age, which features the music of living composers. In recognition of this series, TWC was awarded the 2011 ASCAP
Alice Parker Award, given each season to a chorus programming significant, recently composed music that expands the mission of the
chorus and challenges the audience in new ways. The Chorus has recorded, been nationally broadcast and internationally televised,
performed as part of a motion picture soundtrack, presented numerous premieres, and has performed for presidential inaugurations and
to honor world leaders. In 2010 the Chorus premiered David Hurd’s Three Psalms at the 2010 National Convention of the American Guild
of Organists in Washington, DC. In February of 2000 the Chorus, under the direction of former music director Robert Shafer, won a
Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance of the Year for its live-performance recording of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem.
CONDUCTOR, JULIAN WACHNER was born in Hollywood, California and raised in
New York City. Mr. Wachner is sought-after as conductor, composer, and keyboard
artist. In his new position as the inaugural Director of Music and the Arts at New
York’s historic Trinity Wall Street, Wachner serves as Principal Conductor of the
Trinity Choir, the Trinity Baroque Orchestra and NOVUS NY, in addition to overseeing
Trinity’s numerous and varied concert offerings, museum expositions, dance and
theatre performances, poetry and literary readings, and educational and outreach
initiatives in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. This appointment complements his
existing roles as Music Director of the Kennedy Center’s Grammy Award-winning
Washington Chorus and as Principal Conductor of Opera McGill, Montreal. Wachner
has also made memorable guest appearances with such major organizations as the
Philadelphia Orchestra, the Montreal and Pittsburgh Symphonies, the Handel and
Haydn Society, Glimmerglass Opera, Hawaii Opera Theater, New York City Opera and
the Boston Pops. A Baroque specialist, he was the founding Music Director of the
Boston Bach Ensemble and the Bach Académie de Montréal, besides serving as
Artistic Director of International Bach Festivals in Boston and Montreal. Wachner’s
performances have garnered vast praise. The New York Times pronounced his Trinity
Wall Street debut “superbly performed” and, later that season, noted, “he succeeded
admirably” in presenting his first Messiah in New York City. The Boston Globe said of
his interpretation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, “there was genius here and no
mistaking it.” The Washington Post declared a recent performance “exhilarating,”
commenting: “Julian Wachner knows how to draw maximum drama from a
score.” Following his account of the Messiah at the Philadelphia Orchestra, the
Inquirer’s David Patrick Stearns observed: “Few conductors have drawn such
focused, committed, and meticulous music-making as Julian Wachner. … [He] built
the music, line by line, as an architectural edifice, serving both the music’s emotional
and more purely aesthetic elements.” Last season, Wachner made New York City
Opera history when he was selected as both conductor and composer at the
company’s annual VOX festival of contemporary opera. His original music has been
variously described as “bold and atmospheric” (The New York Times), “jazzy,
energetic, and ingenious” (The Boston Globe), and “a compendium of
surprises” (The Washington Post). E. C. Schirmer publishes his complete catalogue,
comprising over 80 titles. Wachner is an award-winning organist, concert pianist
and improvisateur. He has recorded for the Chandos, Naxos, Atma Classique, Arsis,
Dorian, Musica Omnia, and Titanic labels.
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“PAOLA PRESTINI, AND HER
CREATIVE TEAM HAVE HIGH
AMBITIONS BUT ALSO,
EVIDENTLY, SOME COMMON
SENSE ABOUT WHAT WORKS
ONSTAGE: CHARACTERS YOU
CAN CONNECT TO, MUSIC THAT
ENGAGES.”
- The Wall Street Journal
12
BARITONE/ SOLDIER, CHRISTOPHER BURCHETT’s rich baritone voice and impeccable stagecraft have earned him a place on the
stages of opera companies throughout the United States including New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Palm
Beach Opera, Opera Orchestra of New York, Opera Omaha, Eugene Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Kentucky Opera, Utah Festival Opera,
Glimmerglass and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. The 2012 season began with Christopher singing the role of Blazes in Boston Lyric
Opera’s production of The Lighthouse followed by a return to Eugene Opera to sing the role of Chou En-Lai in John Adams’ Nixon in
China. Christopher then sang Carmina Burana with the York Symphony Orchestra, traveled to Montreal, Canada for a series of
Baroque concerts with L'Harmonie des Saisons, returned to Omaha Symphony for Faure's Requiem and sang Dvorak's Stabat Mater
with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee. This summer he sings the role of Bruno Mahler in Kern and Hammerstein's Music in the Air
with Music By the Lake and in the fall, makes his Virginia Opera debut as Dr. Falke in their production of Die Fledermaus. Future
seasons include a New York production of Soldier Songs with Beth Morrison Projects, a return to York Symphony for Beethoven’s
Ninth Symphony, appearances with the BBC Symphony in London and a world premiere with Fort Worth Opera. A champion of new
music, Christopher has been a part of several world premieres, creating the roles of Orsen in Edwin Penhorwood’s opera Too Many
Sopranos with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, M. Carré-Lamadon in Stephen Hartke's The Greater Good (available on Naxos records)
with Glimmerglass Opera, Justin in Anthony Davis’ opera Wakonda’s Dream and Baritone Soloist is Paul Moravec's Blizzard Voices,
both with Opera Omaha, the title role in Vincent by Bernard Rands with Indiana University Opera Theatre and Jack Absolute in The
Rivals with Skylight Opera Theater.
VOCALIST/ SCHOLAR, HELGA DAVIS is a New York based artist whose interdiciplinary work includes collaborations with composers
and choreographers alike. In 2001, Wire Magazine’s David Keenan described Davis as “a powerful vocalist with an almost operatic
range and all the bruised sensuality of Jeanne Lee.” She is currently one of the two featured performers in the 2012-13 revival of the
Robert Wilson / Philip Glass landmark Einstein on the Beach and is starring in The Blue Planet, written by Peter Greenaway and
directed by Saskia Boddeke. Previously she was the co-star of The Temptation of St. Anthony, directed by Robert Wilson with libretto
and score by Bernice Johnson Reagon of Sweet Honey in the Rock. In February 2008 Davis conducted a special feature interview with
artist Kara Walker on the eve of her Whitney Museum retrospective. She also wrote and performed a new multi-media piece entitled
Imaginings at the Whitney Museum at the conclusion of the Walker retrospective, along with Lukas Ligeti, Pyrolator, and Kurt Dahlke.
In March 2007 Davis began hosting “Overnight Music” on WNYC and was awarded the ASCAP Deems Taylor Multimedia Award for
hosting 24:33: twenty-four hours and thirty-three minutes of the playful and playable John Cage. Robert Wilson says of her, “Helga
Davis is a beautiful, natural performer with an inner power and strength that is truly unique. She combines voice and movement in
a united whole that is spellbinding. Her genius in her stillness and quietness evoke a very deep emotion. She is radiant in every way." EMIO GRECO (soldier/dancer on video and co-choreographer) & PIETER SCHOLTEN (co-choreographer)
EMIO GRECO| PC After the internationally successful dance productions that Greco and Scholten created between 1996 and 2001,
they shifted their perspective and that of their company, to opera, music and film. At the request of the Edinburgh International
Festival they directed two operas: Orfeo ed Euridice and The Assassin Tree. Together with Dutch leading theatre company Toneelgroep
Amsterdam, they staged Pier Paolo’s Pasolini’s Teorema. In 2004 a continuous project, Double Points: + , about dance, music and
interactivity with contemporary Swiss composer Hanspeter Kyburz followed. These interdisciplinary excursions gave rise to the trilogy
that is inspired by Dante’s La Divina Commedia. In 2006, the first part, the highly acclaimed dance production HELL premiered, in
2008 the second part [purgatorio] followed in the Holland Festival. The final part, you PARA | DISO, premiered in 2010. Emio Greco |
PC has been awarded numerous national and international prizes, boasts widespread international recognition and has toured
extensively in The Netherlands and all over the world. Emio Greco | PC’s creations can roughly be divided into three categories. First of
all there are the new creations. These performances still have to be premièred and their (inter)national tours will start after that. The
category of repertoire contains every performance that the company has created since it started out. With some of these
performances EG | PC still tours around the world. Double Points comprises the creations that originated in a research process. In
many cases they are sketches, studies for a work to be developed further. It is also a method to enter into an artistic dialogue without
the pressure of performances.
"[BARITONE CHRIS
BURCHETT'S] DEPTH
AND FOCUS IS QUITE
BEAUTIFUL."
- Opera Pulse
13
SOPRANO/ PEASANT, NANCY ALLEN LUNDY has enjoyed a varied career on opera, recital and concert stages around the globe. As a
favored soprano of Oscar-winning composer, Tan Dun, she created the role of Lan Tea and Juliet in The Gate, roles she has sung with
leading orchestras, including NHK Symphony (Tokyo), Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Orchestra, BBC Orchestra, Royal Symphony
(Stockholm) and BAM, to name a few. She has sung leading roles at Hawaii Opera, (Lucia, Gilda), NY City Opera (Gilda, Sophie,
Rosina, Curley's Wife, Zerlina), Houston Grand (Fiakermilli), Minnesota Opera (Anne Trulove), Washington Opera (Sophie in Werther )
and Portland Opera (Pat Nixon). Prized for her interpretation of the soprano role in Carmina Burana, she sang the role under the
baton of Charles Dutoit with NHK, Philadelphia Orchestra and Montreal Symphony (Carnegie Hall), and with Phoenix Symphony,
Michael Christie conducting. As a frequent guest at the Netherlands Opera, she recently created the role of Zina in Alexander
Raskatov's A Dog's Heart, Simon McBurney directing, a role she repeated at English National Opera, London. Highlights for this
season will be returning to Hawaii Opera as Adele (Fledermaus ), and her company debuts at La Scala (A Dog's Heart ) and Opera
Vancouver (Tea ).
FOLK SINGER/ SAILOR, CLAUDIO PRIMA has a profound interest in folkloric music and alongside singing, has researched varied
techniques of many popular instruments such as the tambourine, frame drums, and the diatonic accordion. In addition to music he
has studied theater with such prestigious teachers as Adriano Yurissevich and Nelly Quette. He has performed in Italy and throughout
Europe, and currently co-produces theater work of his own and other’s. He performed in festivals such as WOMEX in Copenhagen,
Babel Med in Marseille, Venettnic@ a Venezia with Boban Markovich Orchestra, la Notte Bianca in Roma with Kocani Orkestar, Jazz aLuz and Jazz and Luberon in France (with Michel Portal, Louis Sclavis, and more), La Notte della Taranta festival with Eva Quartet
(from Les mystere des voix bulgares) as well as other important Festivals in France, Spain, UK, Jordan, USA, Germany, Holland
and more. His CDs include Marie Merci for CNI with the project Tabule, and Tracce di Sud with Manigold, among others. In 2006 Mr.
Prima created the ensemble BandAdriatica, which is publishing his third CD Arriva la banda. The band is made up of musicians from
various cultures and origins lining the Adriatic Sea. With 15 musicians and 1 sailboat traversing 400 miles, BandAdriatica laid the
groundwork for contemporary research on the coastal music of the Adriatic Region. BandAdriatica’s musical journey later became a
documentary and CD titled Maremoto, which represents their long path of searching and experimenting with the relationships between
the music from the south of Italy, Albania, Greece and the north-east side of the Adriatic. Their original lyrics and music search for a
new kind of language able to synthesize traditions and peculiarities of Adriatic cultures. He directs “Giovane Orchestra del Salento”,
an ensemble of 50 young musicians envolved in a new creative concept of being an orchestra.
INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLE, NOVUS NY
In their debut performance, The New York Times called NOVUS NY a “poised, youthful orchestra” writing “First impressions count...a
most auspicious introduction.” NOVUS NY—the Contemporary Music Orchestra of Trinity Wall Street was established by composerconductor Julian Wachner in his inaugural season as Trinity’s Director of Music and the Arts. Comprising an exciting blend of cuttingedge New Music players from New York to Montreal,NOVUS NY was first assembled in May of 2011 for performances and a recording
of the music of composer Elena Ruehr with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street. The recording will be released in 2012 on Avie Records.
NOVUS NY served as the orchestra for the closing concert of Remember to Love, Trinity’s commemoration of the 10th anniversary of
the events of September 11th, 2001. The concert included moving performances with combined choirs from New York, Washington
DC, Boston, and Pennsylvania, and gave NOVUS NY the opportunity to perform with prestigious guest artists Gil Shaham, Luca
Pisaroni, Angela Meade, and Anthony Roth Costanza. A Double Quintet of NOVUS NY members also played for the Trinity Choir’s
performance of Martin Amlin’s Time’s Caravan earlier that day. Of the week-long 9/11 commemorations, The New York Times wrote
“If there is such a thing as a musical blessing, Trinity Church conferred it on a neighborhood and a city still in need of one.” Members
of NOVUS NY have been featured in performances of Songs of Eve, a song cycle for string quartet and vocal quartet by the legendary
Alice Parker, and in the 2011-2012 season, with a month-long miniseries on Trinity’s Concerts at One lunchtime series. NOVUS NY will
appear with Wachner and Beth Morrison Projects in Washington DC and—for the River to River Festival—in New York, performing Paola
Prestini’s Oceanic Verses. NOVUS NY is poised, as Trinity Wall Street’s resident ensemble for the music of our time, to appear in
programming to beannounced for the upcoming 2012-2013 season. trinitywallstreet.org 14
THE BROOKLYN YOUTH CHORUS
The Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus (BYC), under the direction of Founder Dianne Berkun, is one of the country’s
leading children’s choruses and the ensemble of choice for collaborations with renowned orchestras and artists. BYC choristers have
toured in Russia, the United Kingdom, Austria, Canada and Germany. The New York Times wrote “it can sometimes be hard to think of
this group as anything but a polished ensemble of mini professionals.” BYC’s orchestral highlights have included the NY Premieres of
Louis Andriessen’s La Comedia and John Adams’ El Nino, and the World Premiere of Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls, for
which the Chorus won a GRAMMY® Award in 2005. The Chorus has performed under the batons of Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel, Marin
Alsop, Robert Spano, Reinbert de Leeuw, James Levine, Charles Dutoit, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Other performance highlights include
Elton John’s 60th Birthday Concert at Madison Square Garden, Lou Reed’s Berlin at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Wally Cardona’s Really Real
at BAM’s Next Wave Festival, and most recently, Nico Muhly’s Tell the Way at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Other recording credits include
Grizzly Bear’s Veckatamist, and William Brittelle’s Television Landscape
THE FILM FOR OCEANIC VERSES ALSO FEATURES APPEARANCES BY:
Peasant: Cecilia Maffei, Chiara de Pascalis
Women of the Field & Wedding Dancers: La Fabbrica dei Gesti choreographed by Stefania Mariano
with participation by: Stefania Mariano, Annalisa Greco, Marta Vedruccio, Eugenia Gubello, Isabella Starace, Paola Crisostomo, Chiara
De Pascalis, Laura Flaminio, Danilo De Vitis
VIDEO & PROJECTIONS DESIGNER, S. KATY TUCKER is a video and projections designer based in New York City. Katy began her
career as a painter and installation artist, exhibiting her work at a variety of galleries, such as The Corcoran Museum in Washington,
DC and Artist's Space in New York City. In 2003, as her video installations became more "theatrical," Katy shifted her focus to video
and projection design for the stage. Since 2003, Katy has worked all over the US and world including Broadway, Off-Broadway, The
Royal Opera House, Mariinsky Theatre, Carnegie Hall, Disney World, Kennedy Center, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Ballet,
Denver Center, Alley Theatre, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Mark Taper Forum, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Julliard School
and more. Upcoming productions include: A new ballet by Paul McCartney, choreographed by Peter Martins, at the New York City
Ballet, Heart of a Soldier and Gotterdaemmerung with Francesca Zambello at the San Francisco Opera, Sweeney Todd at the Filene
Center for Wolf Trap Opera, 21sc Liederabend with Paola Prestini and Beth Morrison Projects at The Kitchen, Faust at North Carolina
Opera, and Wonderland on Broadway. Recent productions include: underneathmybed at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Women on
the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown on Broadway, Body Maps with composer Paola Prestini and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler of the Kronos
Quartet, Beyond the Machine at The Julliard School, and The Mariinsky Ring Cycle at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Russia
and Covent Garden in London. In 2006, Katy co-founded with partner Alexandra Morton, beatbox designs, a New York and LA based
interdisciplinary design firm that re-thinks and re- works the boundaries between art, architecture, entertainment and experience. Katy
resides in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
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COSTUME & SET DESIGNER VITA TZYKUN holds an MFA in Film Production Design and Costume Design for Stage and Film from
NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She holds a BFA in Design for Theater from Tel-Aviv University. She has worked with such clients as
Lady Gaga, the Metropolitan Opera, Norwegian Opera, Juilliard, U.S Army, PBS, Volvo, Direct TV, Axe, Qualcomm, 3LD Art & Media
Center, Handel and Haydn Society, NY Classical Theater, and the Cherry Lane Theater. She was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine
(former USSR), spent her teenage years and young adulthood in Tel-Aviv, Israel, then relocated to NYC, where she has been living and
working since 2002. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at the Entertainment Industry Expo in NYC, Habima National Theater in
Tel-Aviv, the World Stage Design Exhibition in Toronto, and in Entertainment Design magazine. Vita is a member of IATSE Local 829 as
a Costume Designer & Computer Artist.
LIGHTING DESIGNER ALLEN HAHN's opera highlights in the US include Rinaldo (NYCO), Il Sogno di Scipione and Arianna in Creta
(Gotham Chamber Opera). Mitridate (Santa Fe Opera), Don Giovanni (Glimmerglass), Death in Venice (Chicago Opera Theater), Elegy
for Young Lovers and Midsummer Night’s Dream (Curtis Institute, Philadelphia) and the world premiere of Miss Lonelyhearts
(Juilliard) and Il Trittico and Luisa Miller and the US premiere of Emilie (Spoleto USA Festival). European highlights: Giulio Cesare, and
the world premiere of Kafka’s Trial (The Royal Danish Opera); La Finta Giardiniera and La Fanciulla del West (Opera Zuid—
Netherlands) as well as other productions in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK. Several of his designs were selected for the 2007
Prague Quadrennial exhibition, and he served as Lighting Design Curator for the US exhibit at last year’s Quadrennial. He has worked
with artist Tony Oursler on installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and ARoS Kunstmuseum in Denmark, and on numerous
productions with Marianne Weems and The Builders Association since the company’s inception. Allen is also a transmedia artist
whose work has been seen in New York City and Pittsburgh since 2009.
COMMISSIONER VISIONINTOART (VIA) is a multimedia production company that creates interdisciplinary works stemming from new
music. Called “always intriguing and frequently beguiling” by the New York Times, and named a “Best of 2009” in classical and opera
by TimeOut NY, VIA believes that collaboration sustains artistic innovation. Since Prestini co-founded the company in 1999 at the
Julliard School, VIA has created and performed over fifty original works. VIA's works have been seen at Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub,
Symphony Space, and the Whitney Museum. VIA's works have toured to colleges and universities in the US, and to international
festivals such as Apertif in Concerto at Teatro Manzoni, Etna Fest in Italy, and BEMUS in Belgrade, Serbia. Support for VIA comes
from the Cary Trust for New Music, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, the New York State Council on the Arts, Lower Manhattan
Cultural Council, American Music Center, ASCAP, the BMI Fund, the Kenan Institute, Nathan Cummings Foundation, National Video
Resources, and the Council on Foundations and individual donors. [VisionIntoArt.com]
CHAIR OF THE BOARD Jill Steinberg
BOARD MEMBERS Sarah Johnson, Paola Prestini, Pablo Rieppi, Melville Straus, Misty Tolle, Diane Volk
ADVISORY BOARD Eric Booth, Richard Kessler, Frances Richard, Limor Tomer, Jeffrey Zeigler
PRODUCER BETH MORRISON PROJECTS (BMP) identifies and supports the work of emerging and established composers and their
collaborators through the commission, development, and production of their work, taking the form of opera-theatre, music-theatre,
and multi-media concert works. Relying on the core values of collaboration, exploration, experimentation, artistry, and excellence,
BMP provides a nurturing structure that allows artists to push the boundaries of their art form. Founded in 2006, BMP rapidly
developed a reputation for “envisioning new possibilities and finding ways to facilitate their realization” (New York Times). In 6 years,
BMP has commissioned, developed, and produced more than 24 operas and music-theatre pieces that have premiered or been
performed in New York, across the country, and around the globe. The Wall Street Journal said, “Ms. Morrison may be immortalized
one day as a 21st-century Diaghilev, known for her ability to assemble memorable collaborations among artists.” BMP’s ability to
recognize emerging talent, invest in the vision of living composers and their collaborators, and partner with presenters to bring new
work to life has allowed it to become vital in the landscape of new music and opera. BMP is supported by the National Endowment for
the Arts, the New York State Council for the Arts, the Department of Cultural Affairs of New York City, Meet the Composer, The Aaron
Copland Fund for Music, the ART NY/ JP Morgan Chase Fund for Small Theaters, and The Map Fund, a program of creative Capital
supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Beth Morrison Projects is Beth Morrison,
Creative Producer; Brian Rady, Associate Producer; and James Daniel, Production Associate.
CHAIR OF THE BOARD Jane Gullong BOARD MEMBERS Tim & Carol Cole, Ralph Dandrea, Gregg Gordon
ADVISORY BOARD Linda Brumbach, Andrew Hamingson, Ruby Lerner, Joseph V. Melillo
Beth Morrison, Creative Producer; Brian Rady, Associate Producer; James Matthew Daniel, Media Specialist/ Company Management
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CONTACT
Beth Morrison
Creative Producer
Beth Morrison Projects
305 E 93rd St, #4B
New York, NY 10128
[email protected]
bethmorrisonprojects.org
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