The Guerillas Drop a New Album and World Premiere Film!

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Guerilla Opera drops a new studio album and presents the world premiere of an operatic film of I Give You My Home, a monodrama with music and original libretto by local composer Beth Wiemann and is brought to life by the acclaimed filmmaker, Cara Consilvio.

Inspired by the Nichols House Museum in Boston and the life of Rose Standish Nichols, a true-life women’s peace party and suffrage activist and professional landscape architect, the world premiere opera brings to light this singular Bostonian woman’s efforts to affect change and “have a purpose”, a linchpin statement of the libretto and theme of the film. 

The opera is written for and recorded by Guerilla Opera’s core ensemble members: soprano and Artistic Director Aliana de la Guardia as Rose Nichols, percussionist and co-founding artist Mike Williams, saxophonist Philipp Stäudlin. They all star in the film and are joined by young co-star Daniela Isabel McDonough (10) in her film debut.

I Give You My Home has gone through a three-part artistic journey, and is an example of Guerilla Opera’s mission to reinvision new works and to expand the definition of opera. There was a live performance in June of 2022 on site at the Nichols House Museum in Boston, and the studio album and film are the final chapters in this transient saga!  

The world premiere film features premier audio from the studio album, which was recorded at the University of Maine, Orono by esteemed producer and engineer, Joel Gordon, and was shot at the following lush and panoramic locations that span New England throughout May of 2022. The locations include the Nichols House Museum in Boston, Saint-Gaudens National Park in Cornish, NH, where Rose’s uncle, the famed artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens resided, Rudyard Kipling House and the historic Scott Farm Orchard in Dummerston, VT, and the Path of Life Sculpture Garden and Hedge Maze in Windsor, VT.

Celebrate Women’s History Month with The Guerillas by learning more about Rose Standish Nichols and I Give You My Home on their Indiegogo page, and join them for a live screening near you featuring talk-backs with the creators!

“I Give You My Home” is supported by a Live Arts Boston grant award from The Boston Foundation and their partners the Barr Foundation and Dunamis Boston, The Puffin Foundation, and a CIP Projects grant award from Mass Cultural Council.

The company debut of Cara Consilvio was partially supported by OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Women Stage Directors and Conductors, generously funded by the Marineau Family Foundation.

The development of “I Give You My Home” has been in partnership with the University of Maine, Orono, The Switchboard artist residency program in Haverhill, MA, and co-produced by the Nichols House Museum with special thanks to their film location at the Saint-Gaudens National Park in Cornish, NH, the Rudyard Kipling House and Scott Farm Orchard in Dummerston, VT, and the Path of Life Sculpture Garden and Hedge Maze in Windsor, VT.

Nichols House Museum

The exterior of the Nichols House Museum as wlll be experienced by audience members upon arrival.

Video Still from Work Sample (April 19, 2020)

From the video documentation Aliana de la Guardia enters the home. This many by part of musical interludes and audience may follow Rose or instrumentalists through the house as the enter and exit through in various doors and hallways. This video still shows us experimenting with period costume, which may alter or change leading up to the full performance. (Photo by Nichols House Museum staff)

Process Shot from Workshop (April 19, 2020)

Filming “Formal in Design” aria for soprano and percussion in Rose’s bedroom at the Nichols House Museum. A private moment revealing her desire to create beautiful gardens as works of art. Experimenting with period costume and using natural light for filming. (Photo by Nichols House Museum staff)

Process Shot from Workshop (April 19, 2020)

Filming “Formal in Design” aria for soprano and percussion. In an effort to maximize space in the museum, which has limited capacity, the percussionist is places in the second bedroom across the hall from Rose’s bedroom at the Nichols House Museum. Experimenting with movement and performer placement, and using natural light for filming. (Photo by Maxx Finn)

Video Still from Work Sample (April 19, 2020)

From the documented work sample, Aliana de la Guardia and Mike Williams performing “A Letter from President Wilson.” Experimenting with instrumentalists as actors, the percussionist reads and hands the note to Rose in the parlor where she held many gatherings for her activist community at the Nichols House Museum. (Video shot by Craig Incardone)