Connect with the Guerillas Online in January and February

BOSTON , MA (January 9, 2021) —Guerilla Opera begins the new year with fun Watch Parties and an interactive online Introduction Shadow Puppetry to be enjoyed in the comfort of your home.

Chrononhotonthologos

Music and libretto adaptation by Andy Vores

Stage direction by Nicholas O’Leary

Thursday, January 14, 2021, 7:00PM EDT

Admission $20.00

https://www.sparrowlive.com/event-details/guerilla-opera-presents-chrononhotonthologos

A king, a queen and...an upside down army? Guerilla Opera gets wild in this period parody attacking the amorality and depravity of the rich, privileged, and powerful.

Chrononhotonthologos, with music by Andy Vores and stage direction by Nicholas O’Leary, is a world premiere, “deliciously inventive” (WBUR) opera based on the play by Henry Carey and includes the poem “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold.

Commissioned by Guerilla Opera in 2017, this operatic parody mocks haughty public figures and parodies the high-blown style of revenge tragedies. It attacks the amorality and depravity of the rich, privileged, and politically powerful. The wild and raucous story is told by a strange band players in clown makeup, and concludes with a “beautiful and stirring setting of Matthew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach,’” (WBUR) which tells of the protagonist’s loss of faith in humanity and we hear screams and cries of freighted people running from Nazi soldiers. It is sung in English and 90 minutes in duration.

This opera is the second collaboration between Guerilla Opera and composer Andy Vores, an exceptional composer with a rare musical wit and innate gift for the lyric theater. “Chrononhotonthologos is perhaps the company’s best-sung and most entertaining work to date.” (BOSTON CLASSICAL REVIEW)

Jonas Budris as Chrononhotonthologos (2017). Photo by Ball Square Films. — Jonas Budris as *Chrononhotonthologos* (2017). Photo by Ball Square Films.

Scene 2: A Magnificent Apartment from "Chrononhotonthologos: The Most Tragical Tragedy that ever was Tragedized by Any Company of Tragedians." QUEEN, TATLANTHE, and two LADIES. This opera is scored for soprano, mezzo-soprano, countertenor, tenor, baritone, four additional voices, violin, clarinet, sax, and percussion. It is 75 minutes in duration and sung in English. Video & editing by Ball Square Films and audio by Silken Audio. Performed by Guerilla Opera.

Giver of Light

Musical score and libretto by Adam Roberts and electronic score by Anil Çamci

Stage direction by Andrew Eggert

Thursday, February 18, 2021, 7:00PM EDT

https://guerillaopera.org/events-1/2021/2/18-watch-party-giver-of-light

Save the date for Giver of Light, a world premiere opera from 2013, inspired by the real life events of the 13th-century Sufi mystic poet, Rumi, with musical score and libretto by Adam Roberts, electronic score by Anil Çamci, stage direction by Andrew Eggert.

Rumi’s life was forever changed after an encounter with the wandering mystic, the Shams of Tabriz. Shams disappeared, and Rumi spiraled into a deep sorrow, giving birth to much of the poetry we know today. Roberts’ present-day, American Midwest reimagination of the story breaks down and explores our various assumptions about what love is, who it can be between, and asks of us how intimately is love linked to sexuality.

Brian Church and Janas Budris in Giver of Light (2013). Photo by Stephanie Patalano Photography.

Creative Community Drop In: Introduction to Shadow Puppetry

Saturday, February 13, 2021, 2:00 PM 3:30 PM EDT

Admission $10.00

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/126812175631

The second Saturday of every month you have more opportunity to interact with Guerilla Opera’s artists and designers in friendly, bite-sized pieces! You don’t have to know anything about opera! We welcome all to participate in these online and interactive classes!

Introduction to Shadow Puppetry provides a fun overview of different styles of shadow puppetry and to the creative process of shadow theater in your home. Using simple tools you will learn how to build a theater, create and build characters and simple mechanisms of their movements, as well as easy-to-find light sources for professional looking home shows. No previous experience is necessary.

This workshop is 90 minutes in duration and led by Deniz Khateri, director, playwright and puppet designer.

Guerilla Opera Agents Provocateurs on Patreon

Guerilla Opera’s Agents Provocateurs monthly memberships via Patreon empower and embolden Guerilla artists to be more inspired and create more for you. As a thank you, experience exclusive and early access to online content and events, discount codes, and insider information curated just for you. Become an Agent Provocateur monthly member to access so much! (https://www.patreon.com/guerillaopera)

With tons of accessible digital programming the Guerillas are ready, willing and able to bring transformative experiences to Boston and beyond!

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WHO WE ARE

In daring performances that often do not use a conductor, Guerilla Opera has garnered a national reputation for “deliciously inventive” (WBUR) contemporary opera with The Boston Globe raving that “radical exploration remains the cornerstone of everything it does.” Boston’s artist-led ensemble whose mission is to immerse audiences in profound experiences through the creation of custom-tailored new works that ferociously confront the status quo and provide a vehicle for cutting-edge music, creativity and authenticity. Our Vision is to confront antiquated traditions and examine stories through contemporary lenses. Our Art is to develop and reenvision new and experimental musical works, championing cutting-edge music, and inspiring and influencing emerging generations. Visit guerillaopera.org for more information.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Andy Vores was born in Wales and raised in England. He studied at Lancaster University with Edward Cowie. From 1982 working as Composer-in-Residence at The City University, London. In 1986 he was a Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood. He has lived in Boston since 1990. 1999 to 2001 he was Composer-in-Residence to the BankBoston Celebrity Series, and 2002 to 2005 Composer-in-Residence to the New England Philharmonic. From 2001 until 2016 he taught at The Boston Conservatory where he was Chair of Composition, Theory, and Music History. Commissions include Freshwater (The Boston University Opera Institute), Wetherby Nocturne for Kathleen Supové (The Barlow Endowment), Quartet No.3 for The Borromeo String Quartet (Chamber Music America), World Wheel for The Cantata Singers, Umberhulk for Boston Musica Viva, and Uncertainty Is Beautiful for the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Awards include a Koussevitsky Fellowship, the Kucyna International Composition Competition, the Scottish National Orchestra Ian Whyte Award, the Tanglewood Prize for Composition, the Omaha Symphony Guild New Music Contest, and the Huddersfield Festival.

Adam Roberts’ music has been performed by ensembles such as the Arditti Quartet, the JACK Quartet, le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Callithumpian Consort, Earplay, andPlay duo, Transient Canvas, Ums ‘n Jip, Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center, the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, the Association for the Promotion of New Music, violist Garth Knox, Guerilla Opera, and at festivals such as Wien Modern (Vienna), Tanglewood, the Biennale Musique en Scene (Lyons), and the 2009 ISCM World Music Days (Sweden). Roberts is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Fromm Foundation Commission, the Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, the Bernard Rogers Prize (Eastman), the New York Bohemians Prize (Harvard), the André Chevillion-Yvonne Bonnaud Prize from the Orléans Piano Competition, the Earplay Donald Aird Award, the Christoph and Stefan Kaske Fellowship from the Wellesley Composers Conference, the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship from the Tanglewood Music Center, the Blodgett Prize (Harvard), and other awards. Commissions have come from the Callithumpian Consort, the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, pianist Nolan Pearson, the Tanglewood Music Center, Guerilla Opera, and others.

Anıl Çamcı is an Istanbul-based composer of electronic music and a new media artist whose work has been (dis)played around the world. He holds degrees in sound design (Istanbul Technical University) and multimedia engineering (University of California, Santa Barbara). He currently teaches graduate level courses on electronic music composition and history in Istanbul.

Trained in her hometown Tehran, Deniz Khateri is an actor, director, playwright, shadow puppetry artist and animator based in New York. Her works attempt to experiment with form and exploring the unique characteristics of the medium that she is using. In search of a poetical style in her theatre, tone becomes an important concept in her works to an extent that music/sound become characters in a play. She tends to create abstract characters in her works in order for the piece to be more inclusive and multi-voiced. She also co-founded Un-آن theater Ensemble to feature more works from Iranian playwrights. Deniz has performed extensively in Tehran and has worked with Boston theatre companies including ArtsEmerson, Central Square, Underground Railway Theatre, Boston University, Apollinaire , etc. Her plays have been performed in festivals in Tehran, Boston and New York. In her new work,”The Cellos’ Dialogue” workshopped and performed at NYC’s Exponential festival, she experimented using her musical instrument,Qeychak, as a puppet. Deniz has created and directed shadow puppetry visuals for several contemporary classical composers and companies including Guerrilla opera and Long Beach opera company. Deniz has won the NYFA award for her animated web series "Diasporan Series" which is about daily struggles of immigrants . Written, directed, produced and animated by herself, Diasporan tells real stories of immigrants from Iran.