ABOUT THE OPERA

Loose, Wet, Perforated, inspired by medieval morality plays, is the tale of “Loose” and “Wet,” who undergo various trials to climb in rank in their secret Guild. Director Austin Regan leads the Guerilla cast and creative team through a strange game show set in a parallel future. Live video feed intensifies each trial and you, the “live T.V. audience,” are invited to participate at crucial moments. Which character will descend to isolation and despair and which to fame and fortune?

Scored for soprano, mezzosoprano, countertenor and baritone, clarinet, saxophone, trombone, and percussion, “Loose, Wet, Perforated” runs approximately 75 minutes and is sung in English. This production has adult content and is not suitable for children under the age of 14.

This opera was recorded into a full length album, released on Navona Records on October 13, 2017.

HISTORY

11/17/2017

Commercial studio album release on Navona Records. Album producer, Joel Gordon.

9/21/2016

Second production in The Zack Box at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Directed by Austin Regan. Four performances.

9/16/2011

World Premiere in The Zack Box at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Directed by Jeremy Bloom. Six performances.

Originating Ensemble & Design Team: Aliana de la Guardia (Loose), Jonathan Nussman (Wet), Rebekah Alexander (Perforated), Jan Zimmerman (Various), Rane Moore (Clarinets), Kent O'Doherty (Saxophones), Chris Reade (Trombone), Mike Williams (Percussion), Jeremy Bloom (Director), Julia Noulin-Mérat (Scenic Designer), Chris Brusberg (Lighting Designer), Adrienne Carlile (Costume Designer), Michael Sakir (Vocal Coach)

PRESS

“Whoever says that opera is a quaint, irrelevant, relic from the 19th century has never seen a production by Guerilla Opera — an upstart group of iconoclasts intent on blasting opera into a realm of immediacy and newness.” (Boston Musical Intelligencer)

“a STRIKING and VIVID new production… colorful music… the score is a marvel of text setting… The singers, composed of Guerilla Opera regulars, were excellent.” Boston Classical Review

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Described as “exquisite” (Gramophone), "and “edgy, bright and entertaining as hell” (NewMusicBox), the works of Nicholas Vines (b.1976, Sydney) have been performed by the likes of Alarm Will Sound, BMOP, Ensemble Offspring, the Schola Cantorum Gedanesis Chamber Choir, the BT Scottish Ensemble and the Australian Piano Quartet. He has been commissioned by organisations around the world, such as Acacia Quartet, Callithumpian Consort, Firebird Ensemble, mmm…, Guerilla Opera, ChamberMade Opera, Ensemble Apex, the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and various Sydney schools. Recognition for Vines’s work includes APRA AMCOS Art Music, Helpmann and Green Room Awards (2011/2012, 2007, 2006), runner-up in the 2010 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, an honourable mention in the 2006 Salvatore Martirano Competition (USA), and 2nd Prize in the 'Musica Sacra 2005' Competition (Poland). Published by Wirripang, Faber Music, the Australian Composers Online Project and Alexander Street Press, the bulk of his work is available through the Australian Music Centre. Navona Records has released albums of Vines’s compositions featuring the Callithumpian Consort (Torrid Nature Scenes), Guerilla Opera (Loose, Wet, Perforated) and Ryan MacEvoy McCullough (Hipster Zombies from Mars). Graduating in 2007 with a PhD from Harvard University, Vines taught theory and composition there and at Wellesley College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before taking up a position at Sydney Grammar School. He is also a composition tutor at the University of New South Wales, and mentor for the annual Artology Fanfare Competition, which in 2016 won the APRA AMCOS Art Music Award for Excellence in Music Education.

TOURING INFO

Director: Austin Regan

Production Design: Julia Noulin-Mérat

Lighting Design: Keithlyn Parkman

Costume Design: Neal Fortin

LOOSE, WET, PERFORATED

Music and Libretto by Nicholas Vines