Opera

Current Project: Violetta

Libretto by Leo Balkovetz

An adaptation of Guiseppe Verdi's La Traviata set in 1989 in NYC. Violetta is a transwoman singer/songwriter. Alfredo is a transman writing for an independent queer magazine and son of a wealthy man who does not approve of his new life and the woman he chooses to be with. All the while Violetta is dying from HIV/AIDS.

Wanting: 3 Mini Operas about Queer Dating and Relationships

The Misperception 10 min

The Date 16 min

Epilogue 5 min

Instrumentation: 2 sopranos, 2 trans-identifying singers, violin, viola, and piano

Full Staged Premiere May 16, 2021

Livestreamed from Pickman Hall, Cambridge MA

Kristen Marion, Idina

Julia Marcus, Tasha

Soren Austenfeld, Asher

Scott Scarlett Kluger, Billie

Tuan Nguyen violin

Yuek Sze (Zoe) Chau viola

Luping (Robyn) Xu and Jules Frenette piano.

Video Premiere of The Misperception

May 7, 2020

Kristen Marion, Idina

Cortlin Presley, Tasha

Written as an expansion of The Misperception. The Date depicts two people who meet on a dating app and are on their first in-person date. Billie is so shy she can't bring herself to interact. Asher is so anxious they can't stop talking and calm down. In Epilogue, it is revealed that Tasha, from The Misperception, and Billie, from The Date, are roommates and they talk about what's happened to them in their day.

Riven Driftwood

Libretto by Louise Edwards

Premiered: December 7, 2014. Oberlin Conservatory’s Warner Concert Hall

Original Cast and Ensemble:

Christine Jay soprano, Mother

Sarah Kahn straight-tone soprano, Son

Quinn Gutman soprano, Moon

Brendan Case baritone, Sea

Caterina Yetto violin, Hannah Dara viola, Nicholas Loucks bass gamba, Jessica Bieniarz cello, Casey Karr bass, Randal Chaves-Camacho and Carson Frattus percussion, Ana Nelson clarinet, Jacob Blizard guitar, and Aida Baladian and I-Lin Tsai piano.

Duration: 32:02

A mother and son travel to their country's new land to be reunited with the father. The gods of the moon and sea have seen this land and its people destroyed by the hands of the father and other people from his country. Their anger develops into a storm that sends the mother and son's ship astray and crash on a deserted island. The mother dies from the shipwreck and her ghosts helps to comfort her son on this island until he dies.