SOLOperas is a double feature of new operas for solo performers. The two premieres will be performed back to back in a seamless evening of music and theater.
The INcomplete Cosmicomics
The INcomplete Cosmicomics is a stand-alone opera by composer/writer Anna Heflin for vocalizing cellist/actor and electronics in which author Italo Calvino’s mystical entity Qfwfq continues his journey. After being stuck in a void for thousands of years with only a cello and a looper, the incongruous and multifaceted Qfwfq comes to life. Upon exiting the void, he faces a choice: he can either explode into existence as all beings or end linear time. Inspired by Calvino’s The Complete Cosmicomics, Heflin’s work is an original creation in which Qfwfq takes the reins of his own narrative. Equipped with a sharp sense of humor and sensuality, Qfwfq ruminates, charms and hypnotizes in his quest to break the loops of life.
The work showcases Juilliard-educated cellist Aaron Wolff as Qfwfq, whose acting credits include Danny Gopnik in the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man.
If you haven’t read Calvino, don’t fret. Everyone will be thrown equally into the void in this new non-adaptation.
This Is Not About Natalie
This is Not About Natalie is a one-act opera with words and music by Jason Cady. It features a solo singer with a ventriloquist doll and guitar. She portrays a songwriter who uploads a new, original song everyday to Youtube and introduces each song in dialogue with her puppet. She was formerly one half of the underground duo, “Kris and Natalie.” Her former partner, Natalie, went on to become a famous popstar. But this is not about her.
Sarah Daniels, soprano and guitar, stars in this one-woman opera.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Krista Intranuovo Pineman: Costume Designer
Erin Grey: Production Stage Manager
Travis Just Sound: Engineer
Celia Krefter: Lighting Designer
Benjamin Papac: Production Assistant
Jeff Cook: Pre-production Sound Engineer
Dmitry Glivinskiy: Vocal Coaching
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Jason Cady is a composer and librettist. Pitchfork called him a “mod-synth mastermind…funny and engaging.” Anthony Tommasini, in the New York Times, described his video opera, I Screwed Up the Future, as “charming fantasy…drably comic and spacey.” Cady’s music has been released on Aerocade, Lockstep Records and Peacock Recordings, and his podcast opera, Buick City, 1:00 AM is available on Apple Podcasts. Cady is the Artistic Director of Experiments in Opera. He was born in Flint, Michigan and now lives in New York City with his wife, Ann Heppermann, and their two cats. He is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
Anna Heflin is a composer and writer who constructs high-octane, humorous, and sensual worlds with non-linear narratives that thrive on musical and psychological fragmentation. Whether writing a symphony or a staged literature-inspired solo opera for an instrumentalist, she is drawn to the unexpected and channels her highly imaginative virtuosic visions into complex characters and unorthodox narrative arcs that often integrate text and staging. She resides in Los Angeles, where she is pursuing her Doctorate in music composition at the University of Southern California.
Sarah Daniels, soprano and actor, made her Experiments in Opera debut in 2019 as the titular role in Chunky in Heat. Her performance was described in The Observer as “so convincing that at times the piece felt more like reality television than an opera.” Her other notable roles include Monica in The Medium, Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites, and The Rooster in The Cunning Little Vixen. Sarah has been in several world premieres with companies such as Fresh Squeezed Opera, Chelsea Opera, and Rainy Park Opera Company, and has performed new chamber works by and in collaboration with composers Raven Chacon, Alex Temple, and Melanie Richards. She will make her Shakespeare Opera Theatre debut this spring as Ophelia in Rachel Luann Strayer’s new play Drowning Ophelia in which Sarah will sing Ophelia’s famous Mad Scene, as well as other excerpts from Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet. Sarah currently studies voice with Francesca Mondanaro.
Described by the Chicago Tribune as “a musician of quicksilver brilliance,” Aaron Wolff is a New York City-based cellist and performer. A laureate of the 2024 Naumburg International Competition, Aaron gave his Carnegie Hall debut as the 2023 Leo B. Ruiz Memorial recitalist, and is the newest member of Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird. Aaron has also found creative outlets in acting – most notably in a lead role in the Coen brothers’ film A Serious Man. A graduate of Oberlin and Juilliard, he is currently pursuing a DMA at CUNY: The Graduate Center.