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VIDEO PROJECTS

During each Virtual Soirée, we will unveil two video projects: a short documentary showing a behind-the-scenes look at our Remote Residency, and a music video of Lady M’s “Sleepwalking Scene” sung by Felicia Moore, played by our band of six instrumentalists, and featuring the five other cast members of LADY M.

Want to learn more about our Virtual Soirées? Click here for our FAQs.

MUSIC & SOUND

Music Director Jacob Ashworth, Arranger Daniel Schlosberg, and Sound & Electronics Designer Senem Pirler collaborate to breathe fresh life into Verdi’s music. The band features piano, violin, clarinet, trombone, guitar, percussion, each doubling on an impressive array of additional instruments. Our adaptation distills Verdi’s chorus of witches down to a virtuosic trio, the Weird Sisters, honoring Shakespeare’s original text and endowing each sister with a soloist’s importance. Picking up where Heartbeat Opera’s Der Freischütz left off, Lady M continues to explore the realm of electronic music and sound design, especially as it pertains to evil and magic. Audiences can expect processing, contemporary vocal techniques, and other experimentation with electroacoustic sounds. 

PROCESS

Heartbeat Opera prides itself on creating radical, timely, and affecting adaptations of classic operas for contemporary audiences. These adaptations and reorchestrations take time and care to create. For Lady M, we are deliberately slowing down the process so we can make the most creative and powerful production possible. After an exploratory workshop in February 2020, we will continue rehearsals online in a Remote Residency April 20-May 1. We will share video and audio creations from our along with a behind-the-scenes documentary during our Virtual Soirées, May 11-20. Over the summer, based on what we have learned from the process so far, we will revise our adaptation and prepare for a fully-designed production in the Spring of 2021.

This work is co-presented by The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

MEET THE CAST

FELICIA MOORE

Lady M

Felicia Moore is recognized as a powerful and innovative emerging artist having made music in partnership with Alan Gilbert, Anne Manson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Speranza Scappucci, Gary Thor Wedow, and Brian Zeger among others.  

In the current season, she joins the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in The Magic Flute and sings the role of Susan B. Anthony in The Mother of Us All at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Other highlights include the Verdi Requiem with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and Ariadne auf Naxos at Arizona Opera.

Under the tutelage of Edith Wiens, Ms. Moore’s training includes resident apprenticeships at the Aix-en-Provence Festival's Mozart Académie, International Meistersinger Akademie, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Portland Opera, Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute, and San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program.  She is a proud alumna of The Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music, and Westminster Choir College.

QUENTIN OLIVER LEE

Macbeth

Quentin Oliver Lee made his Heartbeat debut as Killian/Ottokar in Der Freischütz. He was most recently seen as a Featured soloist in the Met Operas 2019 Porgy & Bess. Other credits ; B’way: Prince of Broadway (U/S) - Regional/B’way Tour: Phantom of the Opera (Phantom), Porgy and Bess (Porgy U/S), Festival of The Lion King (Scar), Encores! Golden Apple (Ensemble) - Opera: La Bohème (Schunard), Carmen (Escamillo), Gianni Schicchi (Gianni). Thanks to God, Angie, Jamilyn, Dan, and all who support the arts. www.QuentinOliverLee.com

TYLER PUTNAM

Banquo

Tyler Putnam (Banquo) is pleased to return to Heartbeat Opera where he has appeared previously as Masetto and The Commendatore in Don Giovanni. 2020 engagements include The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance (Opera Tampa), Ashby in La fanciulla del West (Opera Orlando) and Colline in La bohème (Lakeland Opera.) Notable past engagements include Luther Billis in South Pacific (Opera North and St. Petersburg Opera), Kobun in Mason Bates’ new opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at Santa Fe Opera workshop, and the title role in Markheim (Little Opera Theatre of NY.) Originally from Chebeague Island, Maine, Mr. Putnam attended Dartmouth College.

JAMILYN MANNING-WHITE

Weird Sister

Described as "agile and fiery… superb,” soprano Jamilyn Manning-White has captivated audiences with her stunning artistry and energetic portrayals.  Recently, Ms. Manning-White joined Opera Philadelphia’s O18 Festival, covering Patricia Racette in La Voix Humaine as well as a return to Hartford Symphony Orchestra for Vaughn Williams’s Dona nobis pacem and a debut with Salt Marsh Opera, singing Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute.  Upcoming engagements include a return to the Bangor Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Mass in Time of War and a return to the Hartford Symphony as the soprano soloist in Beethoven 9. An alumnus of the prestigious Yale School of Music, Ms. Manning-White is a two time Regional Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

TAYLOR-ALEXIS DUPONT

Weird Sister

Taylor-Alexis DuPont is a Mezzo-Soprano from Orlando, Florida. Since earning her Master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory, she has performed with the Ising International Young Artist Festival in Beijing and Suzhou, China, the Glimmerglass Festival, Sarasota Opera’s Apprentice Artist Program, Opera Orlando and St. Petersburg Opera’s Emerging Artist Program. Earlier this season Taylor-Alexis was involved with the critically acclaimed Metropolitan Opera production of Porgy and Bess, First Coast Opera’s tribute concert to Marian Anderson, Torino Opera’s production of Porgy and Bess, as well as St. Petersburg Opera’s productions of Suor Angelica and Pinocchio.

SISHEL CLAVERIE

Weird Sister

Mexican born Mezzo-soprano Sishel Claverie has sung 29 roles to date in opera houses all over the country. Recent engagements include the title role in Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires; Carmelita in the world premiere of Ted Rosenthal’s jazz-opera Dear Erich with the New York City Opera; Charlotte in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music; and Carmen with Heartbeat Opera, praised by the New York Times as “riveting”. This Winter, she will cover and perform the role of Renata in Houston Grand Opera’s new mariachi-opera El Milagro del Recuerdo. Her solo show titled Soleful, will premiere next spring at The Tank in NYC. Sishel holds degrees in Music from the University of Houston and Rice University.

Meet the TEAM

Ethan Heard

Director and Adaptor

As Founding Co-Artistic Director of Heartbeat Opera, Ethan has directed La Susanna at BAM and the Kennedy Center, Fidelio, Butterfly, Dido & Aeneas, Kafka-Fragments, The Seven Deadly Sins, the drag extravaganzas Dragus Maximus: a homersexual opera odyssey, All the World’s a Drag!, Queens of the Night: Mozart in Space, Miss Handel, and The Fairy Queen, and a special performance on the High Line. Other opera includes the world premieres of Marisa Michelson’s Desire|Divinity (Judson), Rene Orth and Mark Campbell’s Empty the House (Curtis), and Sisyphus (Experiments in Opera); Erismena and L’Orfeo (Yale), and Poppea (Princeton). Musical theater includes Little Shop of Horrors, Bells Are Ringing, and A Little Night Music (Berkshire Theatre Group), The Other Room (Inner Voices), Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George (Yale), Next to Normal and Into the Woods (Princeton). He also served as Resident Director of China’s first jukebox musical, Jay Chou’s The Secret in Beijing and Shanghai. Plays include: Middletown (The New School), Partners (AADA), The Cat and the Canary (BTG), Julius Caesar (Yale), The Gay Ivy (Dixon Place), and in a word (Williamstown). He received his BA and MFA from Yale, and as Artistic Director of Yale Cabaret, he began the beloved tradition of Yale School of Drag. He now teaches at Yale School of Drama and Yale Institute of Sacred Music. ethanheard.com

Daniel Schlosberg

New Arrangements

The music of Brooklyn-based composer-pianist Daniel Schlosberg has been performed by the Dover Quartet, Minnesota Orchestra, Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Nashville Symphony, and Lorelei Ensemble, at venues including Carnegie Hall, (le) poisson rouge, Royal Albert Hall, Beijing Modern Music Festival, and David Lynch’s Festival of Disruption, and has been featured in the New York Times and WNYC’s Soundcheck. Daniel has received the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards. Recent projects include the release of A Demonstration on New Amsterdam Records, Canal Songs for the Albany Symphony’s Erie Canal bicentennial, a fantasy on Twin Peaks for the Dover Quartet, and music for Jeremy O’Harris’s A Boy’s Company Presents. Last spring, Daniel was the pianist for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film West Side Story. As a performer, Daniel has collaborated with such luminaries as David Shifrin and the Imani Winds. Daniel’s work has been described as “richly detailed yet delicate” by the New York Times and “witty” and “ingenious” by the Wall Street Journal. Daniel received his DMA in Composition from Yale University in 2018.  www.danschlosberg.com

JACOB ASHWORTH

Music Director and Co-Translator

Jacob Ashworth is the “impressive Artistic Director” (New York Times) of Heartbeat's sister company, the baroque and modern “crack ensemble” (New Yorker) Cantata Profana, which he founded in 2012 at the Yale School of Music. He has also been Co-Music Director of Heartbeat Opera since the beginning. His own performances as a violinist and conductor from early baroque to contemporary music have been called “exacting and sensitive” (Boston Globe), “richly detailed” (New York Times), and “a flat-out triumph” (Opera News). On period instruments, Jacob has performed as concertmaster for Mark Morris Dance Group and Opera Lafayette, and with Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Staunton Music Festival, the Yale Baroque Ensemble, and New York Baroque Incorporated. 

Emma Jaster

Movement Director

Emma is a director, choreographer, facilitator and educator.  Her work has brought her to India, Italy, Poland, Taiwan, China, and France, choreographing for actors, singers, dancers, students, and puppets.  Lady M is her eighth production with Heartbeat Opera, with whom she is an Associate Artist. She has been granted artist residencies at HERE Arts and BAX in NYC, ODC and Studio210 in San Francisco, and artist fellowships from the DCCAH and the Asian Cultural Council. She has taught at IDEO, MoMA, Cornell Tech, University of Louisville, and Georgetown University. She performed from childhood with her mime father, Mark Jaster and attended the Lecoq school for physical theatre in Paris. Grounding her work in the cultivation of peace, she believes in the power of art to make us listen more closely and love more deeply.  @notapapercrane www.emmajaster.com

Senem Pirler

Sound Designer & Electronics

Senem Pirler is an intermedia-sound artist whose work is interdisciplinary in nature. Pirler’s recent work has been exhibited at EMPAC, Roulette, BAC, Montalvo Arts Center, Mount Tremper Arts, and Collar Works. Her work has been recognized by grants, residencies, and awards including most recently PACT Zollverein residency, Signal Culture residency and The Malcolm S. Morse Graduate Research Enhancement Award to honor the work of Pauline Oliveros and Deep Listening in 2018. Pirler earned her M.M. in Music Technology from NYU Steinhardt, and her Ph.D. in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Pirler joined the Bennington College faculty in Fall 2018.

Peregrine TENG Heard

Dramaturg and Co-Translator

Peregrine Teng Heard is the artistic director of The Associates Theater Ensemble, with whom she has devised and performed Sheila, Freesome, and Black Protagonist. She has collaborated with Heartbeat on Butterfly and La Susanna, and her voice has guided the audience through three drag extravaganzas. Peregrine earned her BA in East Asian Studies from Yale. www.peregrineheard.com. See her note for Lady M here.

KATHY WITTMAN

Filmmaker

Kathy Wittman has designed video projections and interactive media for opera and theatre companies including White Snake Projects, the Florentine Opera Company, Odyssey Opera, and Queer Soup Theatre. In addition to projection design, she is the founder and principle artist at Ball Square Films, a video production company specializing in documentary photo and video for the performing arts. Current and favorite clients include the Boston Early Music Festival, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Blue Heron, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, New England Conservatory, Suffolk University, Heartbeat Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, White Snake Projects, the Huntington Theatre Company, Merrimack Rep, Peregrine Theatre Ensemble, and the Mass Cultural Council.

Gleb Kanasevich

Sound Engineer

Gleb is a clarinetist, composer, and noise/drone musician. He has been a featured artist at various institutions and festivals, such as Dark Music Days (Iceland), Spoleto Festival USA (Charleston, SC), New Music Gathering (Baltimore, MD), Sonic Circuits Festival (Washington, DC), University of Oxford, Peabody Conservatory, soundSCAPE Festival 2015/16/17 (Italy), Dias de musica electroacustica (Portugal), and more. Since 2013, he has been a core member of Heartbeat Opera’s sister ensemble Cantata Profana. In August 2018, he has taken on the duties of the ensemble's Associate Artistic Director.