One of the feature pieces of the Chicago Collusions festival is a new chamber opera that is in the collaborative works between Jon, Majel, and myself. The situation of the creation of the opera has been totally bizarre all along, but strikes me as particularly odd for the following 2 reasons: (perhaps more of the oddities will be revealed as things progress)
1. Jon and I are doing the bulk of the creative work. We have effectually not communicated about the work each of us is doing (except for the basics...Ursula, virgins, visions, failure) since each of us started doing it. The presupposition is that eventually his work will become Act I and my work will become Act II....or at least, this is the assumption I'm operating under. I don't honestly know that he's operating under the same assumption.
2. I'm using the opera as a "jury piece" here in sunny San Diego to fulfill "jump-through-fiery-academic-hoop-# 1" of my PhD coursework. I have a preliminary deadline of Dec. 8 for the draft of the piece (Act II)...which is 23 days from now. Not so odd, except that the Gods That Be pointed their all-powerful staves at me and decreed that I "shall arrange the piece for piano and percussion" for the sake of the jury. So in the next 23 days, I am compelled to finish a draft of half of a work and rearrange it from 7 players to 2 players so that I can meet an arbitrary and irrelevant deadline, so that I can have this re-arranged half-work prepared in far-less-than-adequate-rehearsal-time for a 1st-impression-based-academic-critique by the resident Gods That Be. Bizarre.
So in honor of this second primary oddity, Opera Cabal presents:
Chamber Opera 2006 - The Countdown
It'll be just like counting down to the new year...but without the eggnog and public urination in Times Square.
(...hopefully....this time.)
(n.)
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a Chicago-based ensemble of interdisciplinary artists bent on the creation and production of experimental works for the stage
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Chicago Magazine
"A thrilling contrast to Lyric Opera and Chicago Opera Theater...Opera Cabal exhibits the audacity and daredevilry rarely found in anything calling itself 'opera' these days."
Time Out Chicago
"Whatever you want to call it, this production takes its audience on a wild, compelling, multimedia ride..."
Time Out New York
"Opera Cabal showed what’s possible when tradition is eschewed, but that tradition still has something to say, and it helps to contextualize the experiments."
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OUR MISSION
Opera Cabal Performing Arts Association NFP is reshaping how opera is imagined, produced and performed in the United States. Composed of a versatile collective of adroit, accomplished young artists, Opera Cabal propels the opera of today by presenting unpredictable new work and modeling new forms of audience involvement. In an era of rapidly changing audiences and shifting musical genres, Opera Cabal embraces interdisciplinary collaboration, new commissions, and intimate and unusual venues. Opera Cabal reaches into to neighboring visual, theatrical and technological communities to broaden the audience for and the definition of opera in a new century, reviving the integrity of a revered art form with an infusion of new energy and eclectic design.
Since its founding in 2006, Opera Cabal has identified and recruited artistic teams working at the highest level in fields traditionally unrelated to opera in order to bring new blood and fresh ideas to the art form. Opera Cabal’s commitment to building a diverse, engaged audience for opera in the 21st century is exemplified behind the scenes by the Hyde Park Salons, a monthly performance series established in 2006 on Chicago’s South Side. The Salons serve as a forum for local artists and scholars, offering a rigorous workshop atmosphere for uncommon contemporary performance. Opera Cabal is also the commissioning force behind the brand new project series, Opera Shop (begun in 2011). In partnership with our co-producer, High Concept Laboratories, Opera Shop introduces each autumn the work of one new team of exceptional artists with a history of working together outside of opera to explore cutting-edge approaches to recombining music and theater.
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