Aug. 17th at 1pm
Stream 1: Concert
Cyberspace | August 17 | 1:00 pm CDT
Pocket Operas
Rhymes with Opera
In the summer of 2020, the Rhymes With Opera: Pocket Opera Workshop went virtual! Nine composers composed and produced monodramas – micro operas – for RWO’s resident vocalists. The online format allowed us to work with composers all over the world, and was, way back in June, our first foray into workshopping music over Zoom, creating at-home recordings, and exploring cloud-based collaboration. We had a blast!
We are delighted to premiere six of those monodramas here at the New Music Gathering.
Amy Brandon, Composer
Lisa Neher, Composer
Matthew Sullivan, Composer
Ashley Seward, Composer
Kory Reeder, Composer
Jamie Klenetsky Fay, Composer
Elisabeth Halliday-Quan, Soprano
Bonnie Lander, Soprano
Robert Maril, Baritone
Space Station 189: a micro opera for Instagram
JL Marlor, Aiden K. Feltkamp
Space Station 189 envisions a protagonist forced to work a 300-day solo assignment doing manual labor on an industrial space station. Exhausted, isolated, and ignored by indifferent superiors on Earth, they begin to hear terrifying noises that they cannot explain. Reinventing the operatic form to fit into Instagram reels, the story unfolds over seven 1-minute episodes.
Lisa Neher, mezzo soprano
Brett Paschal, drums
Chris Whyte, electronic percussion
lisanehermusic.com |portlandpercussiongroup.com| chriswhytepercussion.com
Jlcomposes.com aidenkimfeltkamp.com
reflected tides
Paul Novak, Ira Goga
“reflected tides” is a multi-movement song cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble which pairs a short section from the end of Walt Whitman’s “As I Ebb’d With the Ocean of Life” with a set of new short poems from poet Ira Goga which engage with and respond to the Whitman. In placing these two texts side-by-side, the piece investigates the American idealism of the late 19th century at a moment of disillusionment and crisis.
BlackBox Ensemble
Ruston Ropac, Soprano
Annie Nikunen, Flute
Tyler Neidermayer, Clarinet
Lara Lewison, Violin
Dudley Raine, Viola
Jordan Bartow, Bass
Jixue Yang, Piano
jc (Jon Clancy,) Percussion
Leonard Bopp, Conductor