SF Opera Lab Announces Pop-Up OPERATRONICA at MEZZANINE

SF Opera Lab pops up at San Francisco's premiere electronic dance music club MEZZANINE, on October 12, 2017 with Operatronica, an operatic dance party combining opera and electronica and featuring performances by San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows alongside the Loves Company DJ crew. The program will feature popular arias and songs from the operatic repertoire interspersed with electronic dance music (EDM) sequences. Director Aria Umezawa along with bass Anthony Reed will curate and host the evening. Adler Fellows who will perform include sopranos Toni Marie Palmertree, Sarah Cambidge and Amina Edris; tenors Pene Pati, Amitai Pati and Kyle van Schoonhoven; baritone Andrew G. Manea; bass-baritone Brad Walker; co-host and bass Reed; and pianists Jennifer Szeto and Ronny Michael Greenberg.

Event co-host Aria Umezawa is a first-year Adler Fellow, San Francisco Opera's performance-oriented residency program for opera's most promising young artists, and she is the Second Stage directing Fellow in the program's 40-year history. Umezawa recently directed West Edge Opera's production of Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet in Oakland's abandoned Pacific Pipe warehouse. She is also the co-founder and artistic director of Canada's celebrated Opera 5 and the creator and producer of "Opera Cheats," an online web-series for opera lovers and newbies alike.

Currently in his third year as an Adler Fellow, bass Anthony Reed has performed extensively on the War Memorial Opera House stage including roles this season in Strauss' Elektra and Verdi's La Traviata. In addition to his operatic performances and concert work, Reed is a member of the electronic-music duo ROEHN and records beats in the studio. Reed documents his life as a young opera singer and EDM artist on his weekly vlog, "my BASSic life."

MEZZANINE is a dance club and live-music venue located in the heart of downtown San Francisco's Mint Plaza. The club regularly showcases DJs and live performances from various genres including indie, R&B, hip-hop and electronica. MEZZANINE features state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems and has an upper level overlooking a massive dance floor and 24-foot-by-24-foot stage with projection screens.

Engaging the "opera-curious" in a variety of settings, SF Opera Lab Pop-Ups celebrate the power of the human voice theatrically in intimate spaces beyond the War Memorial Opera House. Since the first event at Public Works in 2016, Pop-Ups have been held at San Francisco's The Chapel and Oasis and also at the Uptown in Oakland. For more information, visit sfoperalab.com.

Photo: Kristen Loken/San Francisco Opera