The world premiere (in chamber version) of the opera composed by Laura Schwendinger, libretto by Ginger Strand with the Left Coast Ensemble. Update with review by SF Classical Voice.
Laura Schwendinger’s opera, Artemisia, will be given its chamber version premiere on June 1st and 2nd at Z Space (450 Florida Street) in San Francisco (notes at Operawire, SF Chronicle Datebook, and SF Classical Voice; KDFC interview w/Schwendinger )
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes (1610).
Artemisia is an opera of passion, betrayal and art in 17th century Italy, and is based on the life of Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi. With a libretto by Ginger Strand, author of The Brothers Vonnegut, Artemisia is a recipient of a National Opera Center Discovery grant.
Artemisia was the first women member of the Accademia del Arte, Florence. When 16, Artemisia was raped by Agostino Tassi, while studying with the elder painter. Tassi was sentenced to prison, after Artemisia’s father Orazio pushed for Tassi’s prosecution, but Tassi never served time in prison.
The case overshadowed Artemisia’s achievements for years. However, today she is regarded as one of the greatest painters of her time. Below top is her “Woman Playing a Lute” (1609-1612) and her self-portrait (ca. 1630).
ARTEMISIA
Betany Coffland, Artemisia
Kyle Stegall, Tomasso
Marnie Breckenridge, Susanna
Jonathan Smucker, Elder 1
Igor Vieira, Elder 2
Nikki Einfeld, Abra
Kate Stenberg, violin
Leighton Fong, cello
Stacey Pelinka, flute
Leslie Tagorda, clarinet
Loren Mach, percussion
Constance Koo, harp
Anne Rainwater, piano
Matilda Hofman, conductor
Jenn BeVard, director
Maggie Whitaker, costume designer
Allen Willner, lighting designer
Andrew Lucia, projections
Angrette McCloskey, set design
Elisabeth Reeves, stage manager
Laura Schwendinger, composer
Ginger Strand, libretto
Tickets from Left Coast Ensemble website
Venue: Z Space
450 Florida St, San Francisco
Saturday, June 1, 2019, 7:30 PM
Sunday, June 2, 2019, 2:00 PM
About the composer
The first composer to win the American Academy in Berlin Prize, Laura Elise Schwendinger, is a Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her music has been performed by leading artists, including Dawn Upshaw (on tour 1997-2013) and on Voices of Our Time, (a TDK/Naxos DVD), Janine Jansen, Matt Haimovitz, the Arditti and Jack Quartets, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, the New Juilliard Players, the Franz Liszt chamber orchestra and the American Composers Orchestra, at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully at Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Ojai, Aspen, Tangelwood and Ravinia music festivals, and Off-Broadway in the acclaimed Sounding Beckett Project. Her music has been recorded for the Albany and Centaur labels.
My local college station used to broadcast the San Fran Symphony Orchestra on weekdays. They kind of change the line-up slightly annually so I don’t know if they still do that. I’m guessing this isn’t directly tied in with SFCO?? I wonder if one of the Bay area classical stations might be running it live (so we can listen on a stream)?? Probably too much to hope for. I definitely like the chamber music style better than the operatic version, and enjoyed the girl playing organ at the Wall Street church quite a bit. There was something therapeutic about watching her thin arms play those melodies and chords on the organ (I hope she returns so I can watch her next Christmas if they have another program). Though the chamber music over the opera is a personal taste thing specific to me. I suppose the “artsy crowd” probably prefers the operatic version. There is some opera I like, but it’s rare. I might like 1 piece in 20 if you randomly played them for me. Like that Italian one in “Shawshank Redemption” or Wagner or something that has a lot of “juice” to it.
*SFSO
Artemisia gets around:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/may/28/artemisia-gentileschi-painting-tour-women-jail-send-prison
Here is one of my favorite artists who, except maybe regionally, is kind of an “unknown”, but I have admired her and her talents for some time. If you pay super close attention you may notice something different. I am not going to tell you the “something” that is different, you have to figure it out on your own. But the bottom line is the music is excellent. This actually isn’t my favorite performance of hers, but it’s “representative” of the type of music she does and the feeling you can get from it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXeHFyaDEg4
Mueller speaks:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/mueller-barr-different-accounts-special-counsel-findings
“Wednesday’s press conference brought the latest instance of Robert Mueller’s words countering Attorney General Bill Barr’s description of the fruits of the special counsel’s two-year investigation. In congressional testimony, public letters, and press conferences over the past months, Mueller and Barr have offered strikingly different characterizations of the 488-page report summarizing the Russia probe. The attorney general has rallied to President Trump’s side, absolving him of obstructing justice and even repeating Trump’s favorite line about Mueller finding “no collusion” between the 2016 campaign and Russia. Mueller has offered a far more nuanced picture. The special counsel made clear that Trump associates were, in fact, open to assistance from Russian operatives, and that his investigation did not clear Trump on obstruction.”
In other words, Barr is a liar and Trump is a serial liar.
Not sure if I view Edray Goins as a “victim”. Based on the NYT article in its entirety, at first inclination I would say “no”. But it’s kinda hard to say viewing it from a distance. And one thing I will say in Mr. Goins’ defense or to his credit—he seems to understand the importance of undergraduate teaching, which many of his profession’s colleagues have a lazy attitude towards, prefer research work to by comparison, or (and some will deny this charge) professors have an utter disdain for. So I have to say, Mr Goins’ positive and engaged attitude towards undergraduate teaching has at least one part of me pulling for Mr. Goins, whatever his travails are in fact.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/edray-goins-black-mathematicians.html
https://blogs.ams.org/inclusionexclusion/2017/09/15/why-im-leaving-a-research-i-university-for-a-liberal-arts-college/
I think if La Follette ever has a “conference” or “symposium” on this particular topic, Mr Goins would be a great invite.
She has to be careful, because things like this can come across as self-aggrandizing. But I do think this is sincere and it’s one of the reasons I have a lot of affection towards her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWtlSN9hhEw
The perpetrator appears to be a long-term employee of the municipal utilities dept. I’m sure in the next 24 more will be known. Eleven dead appears to be the current number, perpetrator was shot dead by police. I’m assuming that death is not in the eleven count.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrUxxFMbkzQ
Outside of the police, I’m not sure how many “good guys with guns” saved ANYONE from the “bad guy with a gun”, but the NRA keeps repeating that mantra, so it must be true.
I have decided to place this video below in this thread, as it is more quiet, less web traffic, and less chance the MAGA patriots will see it. Including head MAGA dunce CoRev. After the host of this blog (a mole we have employed on the web) posts this comment, it has a secret software package which causes it to explode 10 minutes after posting, just enough time for a our evil liberal co-conspirators to read it. Our mole, we shall casually refer to him as “MC”, codename “innocent Puh-hud attainer” is aware of this. I have payed half of the expenses, along with one of our evil liberal conspiracy ring leaders, codename “heartless Hillary” to produce this fake news video. In it, you will see and Shakespearian actor we have dressed up to look like a farmer, complete with facial stubble to imply very long work days of a farmer, along with fake farmer equipment in the background, and stop motion video of toy Tonka trucks enlarged to look like semi-trucks to pic up grain, corn, or soybeans (the imitations are so well done we doubt the MAGA team leaders will notice).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCl3lOxvt20
Our sham replication of soybean futures’ price drop across all media applications is proceeding as planned. Carry on with the plan until the code words “CoRev Epiphany” are posted below a future post in the comments section on our mole’s blog.