James Joyce's Dirty Letters: subject of my new short Opera for Bloomsday,NOLA 6/14-6/16

“Darling, Please do not be offended (by what I wrote.)”

-is the full title. This will be performed for the Bloomsday celebration in New Orleans. Bloomsday is the annual celebration of James Joyce’s groundbreaking masterpiece, Ulysses. The festival is now being handled by the collaborator in two of my previous operas (‘Bang the Law’, ee me and pollock thee’) , Chris Lane.

I have had the idea for a long time and finally the opportunity came up to stage the piece. Libretto and music by yours truly. All the text however is by Mr. James Joyce. The lyric is totally unexpurgated. Immoral restoration theater type directness for our tightening times…except of course- of and for the common people.

The opera is also to remember the great victory over victorian censorship of the book.

The piece will be at the church at the Hotel Peter and Paul in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans. There will be two performance on the 14th and two on the 16th of June.

Great artists have been assembled to work on it.

Zara Zemmels- Mezzo-Soprano
Nelson Gonzalez- Joyce
Tim Robertson- Guitar
Janna Saslaw- Flutes
David Gamble- projections and design
Joan Long- Lighting/ stage design/ performance consultant

Jonathan Freilich- composer/librettist
Chris Lane- producer and set builder.

Extremely important here is our gofundme campaign to raise the money for the production. We hope that if you support arts in New Orleans, or are a theater fan, or a literature fan, or an independent/ experimental/contemporary opera buff, or prefer that your ribald times aren’t impinged upon, or support diversity in music, or the livelihood and development of the arts in general, that you will contribute. Any amount helps greatly.

The link is here…

Zara Zemmels

Tim Robertson

David Gamble

janna saslaw

Donate

ee me & pollock thee- performances coming this weekend.

ee me & pollock thee

an opera

by Adam Falik and Jonathan Freilich

Director: Chris Kammenstein | Musical Director: Francis Scully

 An official participant of the 2011 New Orleans Fringe Festival 

Venue: The Marigny Opera House(Trinity Church on St. Ferdinand in the Marigny) 

Thursday, November 17^th, 7pm

Friday, November 18^th, 9pm

Saturday, November 19^th, 11pm

Sunday, November 20^th, 7pm

  ee me & pollock thee accounts a relationship between poet E. E. Cummings and painter Jackson Pollock.  The two artists journey to the dark heart of inspiration in this multidisciplinary extravaganza.  As poet and painter wrestle their muse, mutual obsession and mystical appropriation ensue.  This modern opera with live musical accompaniment explores the cost of great art and dangerous genius.  Dramatic scenes are interwoven with original musical compositions and operatic performance of E. E. Cummings poems.

  Goat in the Road Productions’ Chris Kamenstein will direct, and Francis Scully, conductor of the New Resonance Orchestra, will serve as musical director.

The production features: Chris Lane as Jackson Pollock, Andrew Vaught (Cripple Creek Productions) as E. E. Cummings, Kathleen Halm as Lee Krasner, and JeAnne Swinley as Rebecca Cummings.

New Opera/Play: ee me & pollock thee complete and set for NO Fringe Fest Nov. 16-20

Chris Lane as Jackson PollockDont' miss this upcoming premiere of a new opera/play/melodrama by Adam Falik(Libretto/script) and Jonathan Freilich(composer).

-E.E. Cummings and Jackson Pollock journey to the dark heart of inspiration in this multidisciplinary extravaganza. As poet and painter wrestle their muse, mutual obsession and mystical appropriation ensue. This modern opera with live musical accompaniment explores the cost of great art and dangerous genius.- 

The music is now finished and the opera is in final run up towards the New Orleans Fringe Festival  It's a co- production with the librettist, Adam Falik and will feature Chris Lane as abstract expressionist painter, Jackson Pollock. Chris appaeared in my previous opera, Bang The Law and knows how to deliver this type of role.  The other cast is also exciting and as of now the music writing is novel and should provide for a really interesting creative set of performances.  The show will be under the musical guidance of conductor, Francis Scully.

ee me & pollock thee at NO Fringe fest...

I'll meet you there!

New, partially operatic piece about E.E.Cummings and Jackson Pollock

Local playwright, Adam Falik approached me about writing the music for his recent original libretto, ee me and pollock thee.  The work is set to be performed in New Orleans in the middle of November.  The production will involve conductor Francis Scully (New Resonance Orchestra) who conducted my previous opera, Bang The Law. It will also involve actor Chris Lane who played the lead acting role in Bang the Law.