Maria and librettist/co-creator Matt Boresi appeared on “Thursdays with Thomas” on IDAGIO Live to talk about the Decameron Opera Coalition’s “Tales from a Safe Distance” and more!
Red Curtain Addict previewed the Decameron Opera Coalition’s Tales from a Safe Distance with a “Behind the Curtain” episode featuring a wonderful conversation with Maria, internationally renowned bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, and co-creator/librettist Matt Boresi.
Decameron Opera Coalition – world premiere of ‘Tales from a Safe Distance’
Newly launched collaboration between US based opera companies, with the premiere of Tales from a Safe Distance to broadcast online in October 2020
Tickets are now on sale for the Decameron Opera Coalition’s multi-week, online streamed opera project – Tales from a Safe Distance
In the most ambitious operatic commission to emerge from the global pandemic, the newly formed Decameron Opera Coalition, comprised of nine US-based companies, will premiere Tales from a Safe Distance with a multi-week virtual release, in October 2020. This bold new work is inspired by an historic text, Boccaccio’s The Decameron. A masterwork of classical Italian literature, The Decameron is the tale of ten people who are quarantined together outside of Florence during the Black Plague in the 14th Century. Tales from a Safe Distance reimagines this story, to reflect the way people are connecting with each other through technology during this extraordinary time in the world’s history. Episodes will be released weekly, which featuring multiple stories from participating companies and unique creative teams.
The host of the project, providing a musical and dramatic prologue & epilogue for this unique and unforgettable new work, is the acclaimed Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni.
About the Project:
The Decameron Opera Coalition aims to keep opera vibrant, new work thriving, singers singing, and audiences enthralled, even in these alarming times, through a new collaboration of unprecedented scope. Nine independent opera companies from across the United States: Resonance Works [Pittsburgh], Lyric Opera of the North [Duluth], UrbanArias [Washington DC], Bare Opera [NYC], Opera in the Heights [Houston], Chicago Fringe Opera, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, and An Opera Theatre [Minneapolis], along with composer and librettist Peter Hilliard and Matt Boresi (The Last American Hammer) comprise the Coalition. In total, ten teams of contemporary opera’s most vital and diverse creative voices have been commissioned to illuminate America’s indispensable indie opera scene, with a dedication to new sounds, unparalleled storytelling, and underrepresented voices. Independent opera companies are where new audiences are born, where discerning opera appetites are fed, where new work is incubated, and where talent is nurtured.
The Decameron Opera Coalition is the future of opera
“We are daring to think big in a time of limitations, creating a collaboration that is uniquely born of this time, but which will help opera to thrive far beyond it.” ~ Maria Sensi Sellner, Artistic & General Director, Resonance Works Pittsburgh (Lead Producer, DOC)
“I am thrilled to be involved with the world premiere of “Tales from a Safe Distance” as its host. Through this project, the Decameron Opera Coalition members are supporting so many singers, creative teams, and administrators during this challenging time. It’s exactly what the art form needs to not only survive, but to thrive. We are all looking forward to sharing this new opera and connecting with audiences around the world.” ~ Luca Pisaroni
Tales from a Safe Distance – Weekly Release Schedule:
Episode 1:
Both Gladsome and Grievous – October 9, 2020
“The Happy Hour” (Introduction)
“Everything Comes to a Head” (Lyric Opera of the North)
“The Late Walk” (Bare Opera)
Episode 2:
Prompted by Appetite – October 16, 2020
“Dinner 4 3” (Fargo-Moorhead Opera)
“The Roost” (UrbanArias)
Episode 3:So Noble a Heart – October 23, 2020
“Orsa Ibernata” (Milwaukee Opera Theatre)
“Seven Spells” (Opera in the Heights)
“The Sky Where You Are” (An Opera Theatre)
Episode 4:The Bolts of Fortune – October 30, 2020
“Sourdough: Rise Up” (Resonance Works)
“Corsair” (Chicago Fringe Opera)
“The Happy Hour” (Finale)
I am excited to be a part of the Athlone Artists family, working with Miguel Rodríguez and his wonderful team!
Conductor Maria Sensi Sellner joins Athlone Artists
Athlone Artists is pleased to welcome to the roster Maria Sensi Sellner, recognized as an “inspired and astonishingly versatile” (Berkshire On Stage) conductor of opera, orchestras and choruses. She was the first three-time winner of the American Prize for Opera Conducting, praised by the organization for her “mightily impressive” work.
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“From our initial conversation at the Opera America Conference, I got the feeling I would enjoy collaborating with Ms. Sellner”, says Miguel Rodriguez. “Then, I had the pleasure of experiencing her performance in the world premiere of I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams, and l became excited at her skill and ability for constant dramatic evolution at the podium. It was brilliant artistry!”
Read the complete announcement here
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Engineering Her Own Path: Beyond the Bio with Maria Sensi Sellner
Read this candid conversation and learn more about Maria’s path to the podium.
This was the most important new work I have ever been a part of. It is important that we tell these stories and use the universal language of music to remind each other that we are human beings.
“Conductor Maria Sensi Sellner navigated the frequent meter changes and sudden interruptions of rhythm with skill and subtly, supporting the constantly evolving dramatic conversations. In a long single-act English-language opera with no real “numbers,” the orchestra became the glue that held together a wide range of styles, rhythms (both classical and Latin), and harmonic worlds.” - L. Pritchard, The Boston Musical Intelligencer
"White Snake Projects’ immigration opera is a timely tale haunted by American dreams. Jacobs’s collaboration with Mexican-born composer Jorge Sosa might be White Snake’s least logistically complex affair to date. It’s also the best." - The Boston Globe
“I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams is a naked and unfiltered look at the problems facing immigrant communities in the United States that many have the privilege to ignore. In this piece, audience members cannot help but to be forced to reflect on their own complacencies. Jorge Sosa and Cerise Lim Jacobs’ collaboration was enormously successful, as their closeness to the subject matter and empathetic nature illuminated the entirety of the work. With such fiercely personal performances, one would be hard-pressed to attend I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams and not feel something new for marginalized populations trying to make a better life for themselves in the United States." - I Care If You Listen
“It’s one thing to hear about the tragedies immigrants face when it’s coming from a stranger you see reporting the news. But when those same things are told to you in such an intimate and personal environment like the one Dreamer creates, they become easier to understand and feel. Dreamer educates its audiences through art, which is, in my opinion, one of the best and most efficient ways to learn about social issues. Dreamer does not scold its audience for being uninformed or ignorant, it instead invites them to learn with the show, recognizing that we all have learning to do." - Abby, member of Boston Children’s Chorus, WSP Activist Blog
In Maria’s recent interview with the Pittsburgh City Paper, she discusses Resonance Works’ new commitment to gender parity in the composers they present, plus the exciting programming and partnerships coming up for the 2019-20 season, and more!
“St. John Passion” And The Passionate Journey of Resonance Works
“This concert represents how Sellner so expertly crafts programs showcasing such masterworks. Sellner’s artists are talented, established and rising stars; they are expressive actors, committed to the audience as well as their art... Oratorios of this scope are tackled only by choirs and organizations that can truly deliver the solo, orchestral, and choral goods, and Resonance Works fits that bill.” - Pittsburgh in the Round
Audience reaction:
“This was astonishingly good Bach. Very well done.”
“I was not prepared for how moving the St. John Passion was. Even without staging, the drama and stakes of the story were palpable.”
“This performance was one of my highlights forever! The quality of the production, including all performers, the interpretation, the expressiveness was wonderful.”
“Deeply moving performance!”
“Thank you so, so much for doing this. It can be hard to find Bach passions at all, let alone to find one of such fine quality. I was brought to tears many times.”
Pittsburgh in the Round features an interview with Maria in their spring preview, where she talks about Resonance Works, their upcoming production of Bach's St. John Passion, what she loves about conducting, and more!
On March 22 & 24, 2019, Maria conducts and produces performances of Bach’s St. John Passion with Resonance Works Pittsburgh! Here are links to two preview interviews with WQED-FM’s Anna Singer:
On-air interview along with soloists Christina English and William Ottow
This fall, Maria will conduct the world premiere of I am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams, an opera by composer Jorge Sosa and creator and librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs for White Snake Projects.
It is the story of an undocumented Mexican immigrant, Rosa, a “dreamer” who is waiting in jail before being deported, and the relationship she develops with her court-appointed attorney Singa, an ethnically Chinese immigrant from Indonesia. The cast includes sopranos Helen Zhibing Huang, Kirsten Chambers, mezzo-soprano Carla López-Speziale, and a collaboration with the Boston Children’s Chorus.
Performances are on September 20-22, 2019 at the Emerson Paramount Theater, Robert J. Orchard Stage in Boston, MA. Read the press release