QUANDO
When the performance gets too real.
New Short Film & Live Performances
presented by The McKittrick Hotel
Director & Editor Tee Vaden
Creative Producer & Story Concept by Derrell Acon
Music Directed and Arranged by Daniel Schlosberg
Original music by Giuseppe Verdi & C. W. Gluck
With additional live musical disruption by Mx. Oww & Jessie Cox
Some of the most beautiful and famous music from the operatic canon becomes the landscape for this fierce social satire of sex, activism, and the performance of everyday life. Music from Verdi’s operas La Traviata and Don Carlo and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice are repurposed and refashioned into a 28-minute short film that follows a starry-eyed young couple as their night on the town unravels into a surrealist swirl of decadence, intrigue and, ultimately, vengeful justice.
The short film Quando, produced by Heartbeat's newly-appointed Associate Artistic Director, Derrell Acon, will be screened as is, and then followed by a second presentation that features live composer-performers actively disrupting and reconstituting the music from the score for a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience. No two performances will be the same, as the ending will change with each iteration of the live performances, and audiences will be challenged to re-examine their perceptions of art and its role in societal transformation.
“mesmerizing. A one-of-a-kind film and theatrical performance.”
—Lindsay Brown, NYS Music
April 7-9 at the McKittrick Hotel, NYC
3 shows:
Thursday, April 7th, 7pm doors/ 7:30pm show
Friday, April 8th, 7pm doors/ 7:30pm show
Saturday, April 9th, 7pm doors/ 7:30pm show
The McKittrick Hotel
530 W 27th St
New York, NY 10001
QUANDO TRAILER
Stills from The quando film
Photos from the QUANDO performance with Live Disruption
April 7-9, 2022 at The McKittrick Hotel
photos by Russ Rowland
Cast
Lauren Michelle (she/her) // WOMAN Brian Vu (he/him) // MAN
Shelley Washington (she/her) // STREET MUSICIAN
Background
Lauren Anderson Bustami (she/her)
Carson Childs (he/him)
Arianna Garber (she/her)
Jonathan Lacayo (he/him)
Maria Dominique Lopez (she/her)
Oscar Lujan (he/him)
Nadia Maryam (she/her)
Cheikh Mbow (he/him)
Melody Morrow (she/her)
Nessa Norich (she/her)
Malek Sammour (he/him)
Joseph Shafer (he/him)
LIVE NYC ARTIST DISRUPTORS
Mx. Oww (she/they)
Jessie Cox (he/him)
NYC LIVE PERFORMANCE TEAM
Production Manager // Neeki Bey (he/him)
Assistant Production Manager // Gina Ferrara (she/her)
FILM Production TEAM
Director & Editor // Tee Vaden (they/them)
Creative Producer & Story Concept // Derrell Acon (he/him)
Director of Photography // Kathryn Boyd-Batstone (she/her)
Production Designer // Yuki Izumihara (she/her)
Co-Costume Designer // Naomi González (she/her)
Co-Costume Designer // Lauren Cucarola (she/her)
Makeup/SFX Designer // Justine Fang (she/her)
1st Assistant Director // Tasha Petty (she/her)
2nd Assistant Director // Melanie Bacaling (she/her)
Music Director/Arranger // Daniel Schlosberg (he/him)
Screenwriter // Xan Churchwell (they/them)
Music Editor // Enzo Iannello (he/him)
Production Sound Mixer/Editor // Brandyn Johnson (he/him)
Art Director/Costume Assistant // Oscar Lujan (he/him)
Art Director // Carson Childs (he/him)
Art Director // Justin O'Brien (he/him)
Hair & Makeup Assistant // Karissa Parks (she/her)
1st Assistant Camera // Sophie Gemelas (she/her)
1st Assistant Camera // Echan Keum (he/him)
Gaffer // EJ McCartney (she/her)
Swing/Grip // Gerson Leiva (he/him)
Colorist // Chaochen Li (he/him)
Production Manager // Eric Bridges (he/him)
Production Assistant // Elijah Cineas (he/him)
FILM BAND
Piano // Jasper Jimenez (he/him)
Violin // Xenia Deviatkina-Loh (she/her)
Cello // Christopher Ahn (he/him)
Clarinet/Saxophone // Brian Walsh (he/him)
FILM CAST
WOMAN
Lauren Michelle (she/her)
Soprano Lauren Michelle, is an internationally recognized opera singer. Some of her notable international roles include Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Musetta in La Bohème, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi. She has performed at Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, La Scala Theatre, Carnegie Hall and more.. She sang in concert under the baton of Plácido Domingo at LA Opera and made her debut with Washington National Opera to critical acclaim alongside Eric Owens. She was a prize winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and has been awarded First in both the Lotte Lenya Competition and the Marcello Giordani International Vocal Competition. She is a graduate of UCLA and The Juilliard School.
MAN
Brian Vu (he/him)
Described by The New York Times as having an “ample and pleasing tone,” tenor Brian Vu is an exciting performer recognized for his vocal and dramatic abilities. Brian's 21-22 season includes MAN in Long Beach Opera and Heartbeat Opera's short film QUANDO, Manrico in Il Trovatore with Opera in the Heights, and Timothy Laughlin in Fellow Travelers with Opera Columbus. During the 20-21 season, he was slated to return to the Metropolitan Opera singing Journalist in Lulu (COVID19). Future engagements include his debut in a joint production between LA Opera and Opera Omaha. @vouski
STREET MUSICIAN
Shelley Washington (she/her)
Shelley Washington performs regularly as a vocalist and saxophonist, primarily on baritone saxophone, and has performed and recorded throughout the Midwest and East Coast– anything from Baroque to Screamo. She holds a BA in Music, and a Masters of Arts in Education from Truman State University, a Masters of Theory and Composition from NYU Steinhardt, and is pursuing a Phd in Music Composition at Princeton University. She has taught for the New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers program, and was acting Artistic Director for the Noel Pointer Foundation, located in Brooklyn, NY. Shelley is a founding member of the composer collective, Kinds of Kings.
FILM TEAM
Director & Editor
Tee Vaden (they/them)
Curious, sincere, & immersive storytelling is Tee Vaden's passion. Currently based between LA + NYC, Tee has directed work featured on Refinery 29, The Colbert Show, Rolling Stone, NME, OUT, and more. Their directing client list includes Schwarzkopf/Got2Be, Fountain of Truth, Lifetime, NYLON, Milky Mag, Google, Producer Entertainment Group & OutTV, and most recently Heartbeat Opera/Long Beach Opera. Dedicated to continuing to bring light and connection to the world with their work, they believe in the metamorphic power of joy, and are invested in highlighting the revolutionary nature of healing characters (and ourselves) outside of trauma, and rather with care.
Creative Producer & Story Concept
Derrell Acon (he/him)
Award-winning bass-baritone Derrell Acon is a uniquely accomplished performer whose repertoire ranges from the comic to the tragic. His accomplishments in music have established Dr. Acon as a leader in artistic activism through music performance. Recent roles include Escamillo in Opera Ithaca's Carmen and Antron McCray in the Pulitzer Prize-winning production of The Central Park Five with Long Beach Opera. He is the Vice President of People Operations & Inclusion at Opera Philadelphia and Associate Artistic Director at Heartbeat Opera in New York City.
Director of Photography
Kathryn Boyd-Batstone (she/her)
Kathryn Boyd-Batstone is an award winning Director and Cinematographer of narrative and documentary films in Los Angeles. Most recently she was the 2021 DGA Student Film Gold Winner, Women’s Category and Caucus Foundation 2nd Place Gold Circle Winner for her film For Rosa which premiered on HBO MAX May 2021. She also is a 2019 ASC Student Heritage Award Finalist for a documentary she lensed called God Bless the Cook. She is a USC School of Cinematic Arts MFA graduate and her work as a photojournalist has been published in CNN, The San Francisco Chronicle, NPR and more.
Production Designer
Yuki Izumihara (she/her)
Yuki Izumihara is a Los Angeles based freelance scenic, projection designer for theater and opera, and a production designer for film. She received her MFA in Entertainment Design from UCLA in 2016.
Music Director & Arranger
Daniel Schlosberg (he/him)
Daniel Schlosberg’s music has been performed by the Dover Quartet, Minnesota Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Albany Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Lorelei Ensemble, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Amphion Quartet, Antico Moderno, New Morse Code, and counter)induction, at venues including Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, (le) poisson rouge, Royal Albert Hall, Detroit Institute of Arts, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, and David Lynch’s Festival of Disruption. Daniel is a 2014 recipient of the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been awarded two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, most recently in 2014.
LIVE NYC ARTIST DISRUPTORS
Jessie Cox (he/him)
One of the world’s most brazenly experimental composers, Swiss artist Jessie Cox makes music about the universe - and our future in it. Through avant-garde classical, experimental jazz, and sound art, he has devised his own strand of musical science fiction, one that asks where we go next. He is influenced by a vast array of artists who have used their music to imagine futures, and takes Afrofuturism as a core inspiration, asking questions about existence, and the ways we make spaces habitable. Known for its disquieting tone and unexpected structural changes, his music steps into the unknown, and has been referred to by the New Yorker as a nebulous and ever-expanding sound world that includes ‘breathy instrumental noises, mournfully wailing glissandi, and climactic stampedes of frantic figuration’.
Mx. Oww (she/they)
Mx. Oww engages in creating and reimagining music through composed and improvised performance. Oww employs a range of instruments including voice, keyboards, looping station, hand percussion, stringed instruments and flutes. Some of Oww’s performances feature the integration of movement, spoken word, and music. Oww values opportunities to collaborate, disrupt, comfort and comment. Oww admists to all influences, derivations and inspirations. Oww claims no diplomas, awards or affiliations. Mx Oww can be reached through patricemichaels.com.
FAQs
How long is the show?
75 minutes
What are the COVID safety policies?
Proof of vaccination and masks are required.
This is a film and a live performance?
Yes. Audiences will experience a film screening followed by the same film being shown accompanied by a live musical performance.
What are “disruptors”?
Disruptors in this context are artists who have been brought on to the project to literally disrupt how an audience experiences the film. They will craft a musical experience that highlights certain moments and challenges the assumptions of the original film based on their own interpretation.
What music is in the show?
"Preludio"
"Parigi, o cara"
from La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi
"Ma lassú" from Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi
"Dance of the Blessed Spirits"
"Deh placatevi"
"Ove trascorsi ahimé"
from Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck