Snapshot

Presented by West Edge Opera

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West Edge Opera and Earplay present Snapshot: an opportunity to see new works of opera in an informal concert setting.

2020 features a program of four new works:

Gilberto
Music by Nicolas Lell Benavides and libretto by Marella Martin Koch. A young Latino American celebrates one last night out dancing with his friends in Oakland's historic Sweet's Ballroom before shipping off to the Korean war. With its rhythmic, rumba and mambo infused score and a vibrant cast of latinx singers, this opera asks how we hold onto our individual identities and cultures in a country wracked by war and violence.

Eighteen Melodies for Hujia
Music and text translation by Joan Huang. With a score that echoes the ancient Chinese wind instrument named in the title, this inventive and evocative piece is inspired by the art and life of Cai Wenji, a talented musician and poet who was forced to abandon her two children by powerful men during the Han Dynasty (25 - 220 A.D.).

El Canguro
Music by Peter Michael von der Nahmer and libretto by Cynthia Lewis Ferrell. An impoverished young woman in the South American rainforest bears babies that her father then sells to the lucrative adoption market. The newfound wealth is enough to create a new life, one that can lift them out of of their desperate circumstances, but at what cost?

Moon, Bride, Dogs
Music by Ryan Suleiman and libretto by Cristina Fríes. The moon greets a mysterious girl who has fallen from the sky in this surreal reimagining of a deeply troubling fairly tale. Lost in a post-apocalyptic nightmare and hounded by a pack of dogs, she struggles to remember the events that led her here, but the very act of remembering may be an even greater violence.

Date:
Organization:
Region:
City: Berkeley
Price Range:
$40

Program Items

Benavides/Koch Gilberto
Joan Huang Eighteen Melodies for Hujia
von der Nahmer/Ferrell El Canguro
Suleiman/Fríes Moon, Bride, Dogs

Performers

Mary Chun Conductor
Jonathan Khuner Conductor
Earplay Ensemble
Vivian Yao Soprano - Cai Wenji
Maya Kherani Soprano - Itzel Vargas
Nicolas A. Garcia Baritone - Gilberto

Ed Roberts Campus

Ed Roberts Campus

3075 Adeline Street
Berkeley, CA 94703
United States