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Guerilla Opera presents Gallo: a fable in music in one act, a world premiere chamber opera with music and libretto by Rome-Prize winning composer Ken Ueno, and direction by Metropolitan Opera stage director Sarah Meyers. The world premiere chamber opera investigates how the landscape and man shape and transform each other. It also addresses the fundamental question of ontology, "the chicken or the egg," and features a soprano in a Houdini box filled with Cheerios and a countertenor in a chicken suit. Gallo plays tonight through Saturday, May 22-24 and 29-30, 2014 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 31 at 2 p.m. with talk-backs on Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24.
All performances are in The Zack Box at The Boston Conservatory, 8 The Fenway, Boston, MA. Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 seniors and free for students with valid IDs; tickets can be purchased from The Boston Conservatory Box Office by phone or in person only. Call (617) 912-9222 beginning Monday, May 12, 2014 to reserve tickets. Please visit www.bostonconservatory.edu/tickets for more Box Office information. Gallo is sung in English and 70 minutes in duration. The audience will be asked to remove their shoes before they enter the theater and invited to lie down during a portion of the performance. Please let The Box Office know if you require special assistance.
Gallo is an installation and immersive experience performed in the round. The Zack Box will be transformed into a boardwalk bordering a beach made of Cheerios, which serves as a repository of memories. In this landscape there are familiar items placed at random, as if prizes in a cereal box or rocks in a Zen garden. The audience sits on the boardwalk as the Mother/Shopper, played by soprano Aliana de la Guardia, and Galante/Farinelli, the Gallo, played by countertenor Douglas Dodson emerge from and disappear into the landscape. They experience memories and interactively question their creative existence.
Composer Ken Ueno remarks: "'Gallo' is the biggest thing I've done so far, so I feel truly blessed to be collaborating closely with a dream team of amazing stars - Guerilla Opera, Sarah Meyers, and Julia Noulin-Mérat. Good music and art requires commitment and trust, and they give me that secure footing to be as wild as my imagination wants to go. It's already been life-changing for me!"
The cast and ensemble features Aliana de la Guardia, soprano (Shopper/Mother), Douglas Dodson, countertenor (Galante/Farinelli, the Gallo), Amy Advocat, Bohlen Pierce clarinet, bass clarinet and contrabass clarinet, Nicole Cariglia, cello, Kent O'Doherty, soprano saxophone, and Mike Williams, percussion.
The Production Team features Ken Ueno (composer & librettist), Sarah Meyers (stage director), Julia Noulin-Mérat (scenic design), Tláloc López-Waterman (lighting & multi-media design), Liz Sherrier (assistant set designer), Keithlyn Parkman (master electrician/assistant lighting designer), Annie Simon (costume designer),
Anita Shriver (props master), Mark DiGiovanni (technical director), and Tae Kim (rehearsal pianist).
Meet award-winning composer Ken Ueno, Metropolitan opera-director Sarah Meyers, and the cast and creative team of the world premiere of Gallo, following the performance on Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24. Talk-backs are included with ticket purchases and directly follow the performances in The Zack Box at The Boston Conservatory.
For more information visit Guerilla Opera online at www.guerillaopera.com.
Guerilla Opera is a collaborative performing ensemble, and independent 501(c)3 organization, whose mission is to commission new chamber operas written specifically for their ensemble of artists, to perform in intimate theatrical settings, and to perform in a highly collaborative environment resulting from the direct communication between performers without a conductor or formal music director. The ensemble envisions a national community where serious new chamber opera and ensemble performance are valued and enjoyed. They will bring exciting new works to Boston and beyond, connect with communities nation-wide, and reinvigorate the concert-going public's love for new opera.
