Description
Eastman Opera Theatre (EOT) is thrilled to premiere its first virtual presentation: Our Voices: Immersive Composer Collaborations, to be presented December 16 through 20, 2020. Our Voices is the collective title for six unique performances of music by six influential contemporary composers: Anthony Davis, Ricky Ian Gordon, Lori Laitman, Missy Mazzoli, Ben Moore, and Errollyn Wallen. This virtual experience will be directed by Lindsay Warren Baker, Stephen Carr, Steven Daigle, and Madeleine Snow (current MM degree candidate); with music direction by Timothy Long and Wilson Southerland.
In the words of EOT music director Timothy Long, these six composers are “among the music industry’s most successful vocal music composers today.” Each of these renowned composers will curate a program of their vocal music, join in group discussions and individual coachings with students and faculty members, and guide the process up to the fall performances.
As so many schools struggle with the challenges of vocal and operatic practicing and interacting due to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, EOT is choosing to turn unusual and difficult circumstances into positive and unique experiences for Eastman students, focusing on the creative process.
Our Voices offers students something they rarely experience: a fully immersed creative, collaborative journey. “Adversity breeds creativity,” says Stephen Carr, Associate Artistic Director of Eastman Opera Theatre. “Our students will work one-on-one with some of the most prominent and prolific living composers of vocal music and take an active role in the scenic, costume, and lighting design of their own performances. We hope that they’ll emerge from this time as more fully fleshed artists, with a deeper understanding and greater appreciation of all that goes into this most collaborative of art forms.”
“Now is the time for artists to explore new ways to express themselves and Eastman has thoroughly taken on the challenge,” says composer Ben Moore. “Paradoxically, restrictions can sometimes open new doors and spark the imagination. That is undoubtedly the case for Eastman’s students and faculty.”
Presented in an “Opera Festival” style and in a fully virtual landscape, Our Voices will offer six premieres across five days. Besides music, each video features a 15-minute interview with the composer and director, providing insight into the composition and rehearsal process of the particular work being shown. Performance dates and times are as follows:
Wednesday, December 16 at 7:30 p.m.: “The Greatest Liberty” with selected arias by Anthony Davis
Thursday, December 17 at 7:30 p.m.: “Heart Melodies” by Ricky Ian Gordon
Friday, December 18 at 7:30 p.m.: “I Shall Not Live in Vain”, music of Lori Laitman
Saturday, December 19 at 2 p.m.: “This World Within Me”, with selections from Songs from the Uproar by Missy Mazzoli
Saturday, December 19 at 7:30 p.m.: “The Journey Towards Freedom,” with selected songs and arias by Ben Moore
Sunday, December 20 at 2 p.m.: “The Journey to Here,” with songs by Errollyn Wallen
Each day’s presentation will be added to the previous days’ videos, so that all six will be available to watch after Sunday, December 20. The complete series of operas will be available for streaming in the months to follow.
“It has never been more essential to learn how to tell stories through music and to reflect our turbulent but hopeful times through art,” shares Missy Mazzoli. “I am confident that the next generation can do this in surprising, vital and moving ways, and I love that the Eastman Opera Theatre has given them this opportunity.”