The Indie Opera Podcast

Peter Szep, Brooke Larimer, Ashley Renee Watkins, Chuck Sachs and Walker Lewis
  • 4.7 (22)
  • PERFORMING ARTS
  • UPDATED MONTHLY
The Indie Opera Podcast

Opera does not just happen with the big guys, the future of opera is happening now in small opera companies with independent producers. Named one of the “The Must-Listen Podcasts for Opera and Classical Music Fans” by Playbill, one of Opera Wire’s “5 Opera Podcasts You Should Be Listening To”, one of the top classical music podcasts by ARTaxMusic.com, and brianwise.com, the Indie Opera Podcast is the place to go to for news about where opera is headed. We focus on companies that are creating new operas and who are presenting the classics in new ways for wider audiences, no matter how big or small.

  1. MAY 12

    Podcast 092: Turandot with Christopher Tin’s New Ending

    No one is more suited to create a compelling ending to Puccini’s otherwise unfinished fantasy story than Christopher Tin, a two-time Grammy-winning composer of concert and media music. Time Magazine calls his music “rousing” and “anthemic,” while The Guardian calls it “an intelligent meeting of melody and theme.” In addition to premiering in some of today’s most popular video games, Christopher’s music has been performed in many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, the United Nations, and Carnegie Hall, where he had an entire concert devoted to his music.

    57 min

  2. 09/07/2022

    Podcast 091: Roundtable, Opera and Community

    Letters That You Will Not Get: Women’s Voices from the Great War at AOP and Quamino’s Map at Chicago Opera Theater are both operas that opened recently whose creators we have interviewed in previous episodes; Hamlet at the Met is also examined. We delve into diversity and inclusion efforts in the opera world, and why the word “outreach” is no longer helpful for opera companies and symphonies. Ashley Renee gives her perspective on how Lincoln Center is slowly becoming the open campus and community resource it was originally meant to be.

    1h 24m

  3. 06/10/2022

    Podcast 090: 2020 OPERA America Discovery Grants Part 2

    The show features all the composer/librettist teams to receive the 2020 OPERA America Discovery Grants which support composers who identify as women in the development of new operatic works and the advancement of their careers in the opera industry. Justine Chen, composer, and Stephanie Fleischman, librettist, talk about delving into Justine’s multifaceted Taiwanese family history for Seven Sisters, which follows the form of a formal Taiwanese funeral. Melissa Dunphy and Jacqueline Goldfinger, composer and librettist, share the macabre origin of Alice Tierney: an unsolved 1880 murder in Philadelphia on Melissa’s property, and discuss the novel way they are choosing to tell the story. Kirsten Volness, Susan Werbe, and Kate Holland, composer and librettists of Letters That You Will Not Get: Women’s Voices from the Great War, discuss the work’s fascinating journey from song cycle to opera, and how they set to music the real-life accounts of multiple women on all sides of the conflict who lived through World War I.

    1h 28m

  4. 05/05/2022

    Podcast 089: 2020 OPERA America Discovery Grants Part 1

    The Indie Opera Podcast is releasing an episode which was recorded in the Spring of 2020 that got derailed during the start of the pandemic, and features all the composer/librettist teams to receive the 2020 OPERA America Discovery Grants which support composers who identify as women in the development of new operatic works and the advancement of their careers in the opera industry. We are joined by composers Lisa Bielawa, Mary D. Watkins, Milica Paranosic, Johanny Novarro; librettists Claire Solomon, Cheri Magid, and Jose Felix Gomez; and producer Martha Richards. There are lots of music and video highlights in this long-delayed episode, and we include updates on all the projects that they have been creating since the start of the pandemic.

    1h 18m

  5. 04/07/2022

    Podcast 088: Quamino's Map with Deborah Brevoort, Kimille Howard, Jeri Lynne Johnson and Cori Ellison

    Joining us are Librettist and playwright Deborah Brevoort, conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson, dramaturg Cori Ellison, and director Kimille Howard discuss the origins and creative process of this unique production, which focuses on the Black Americans who fought for their liberty on the side of the British in the Revolutionary War and struggled to survive in London afterward. We also learn about the Black gentry in London at the time and how it may have intersected with the newly-arrived soldiers. Don’t miss this surprising look into the research, staging, and craft that went into bringing an important but little-known historical moment to light.

    1h 17m

  6. 03/02/2022

    Podcast 087: Carla Lucero and Dr. Rita E. Urquijo-Ruiz, The Three Women of Jerusalem

    Carla Lucero is the first Latinx and female composer to be commissioned by LA Opera. We discover how they translated the opera into Spanish while retaining the same poetic meter, as Lucero will produce the opera in English as well. We also discuss the significance of the Stations of the Cross, on which the opera is based, as well as why Lucero chose three anonymous women in the 8th station to be the heroines of the story. She also makes a fascinating choice on how to personify Jesus in the opera. The massive production will be at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and will feature 3 orchestras and 3 choirs. We can’t wait to see this love letter to LA, which fuses ideas from queer, Latinx, and borderlands cultures into an uplifting whole.

    1h 21m

  7. 02/02/2022

    Podcast 086: Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell

    Having both worked on Pulitzer Prize-winning projects, it was fascinating to hear how they view American opera and what types of stories attract them. We discussed the return of oratorios and “opera-torios,” and the first recipient of the Campbell Opera Librettist Prize. We also talked about Sondheim’s powerful influence on American opera and the creation of their stunning "Light Shall Lift Us" project in response to Covid-19. Don’t miss this conversation with two of our greatest writers, who are using their platform to send a hopeful and humanizing message to the world.

    1h 9m

  8. 01/13/2022

    Podcast 085: The Hang with Taylor Mac, Matt Ray, Chanon Judson, Machine Dazzle

    Described as “a ritual celebration of queerness, questions, and the eternity of a moment,” the show is rooted in the jazz tradition and the operatic form, and imagines the final hours of Socrates. Prolific playwright and performer Taylor Mac joins us along with Machine Dazzle, costume and set designer; Chanon Judson, choreographer; and Matt Ray, composer. We discover the origin of Mac’s ideas about the piece and the many permutations it went through before it found its current form. We get a taste of what each collaborator brings to the show : how Dazzle challenges actors with costumes he calls ‘wearable stories,’ how Judson reflects performers’ movement ideas to create choreography for musicians as well as actors, and how Ray created his unique instrumentation for the work. It’s fascinating to hear how they worked on the piece during the pandemic and what it was like to come together in a rehearsal room after so much isolation. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear the backstory behind some of our most incisive and daring theatre creators making an exuberant foray into the operatic form.

    1h 6m
See All (139)

4.7
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Opera does not just happen with the big guys, the future of opera is happening now in small opera companies with independent producers. Named one of the “The Must-Listen Podcasts for Opera and Classical Music Fans” by Playbill, one of Opera Wire’s “5 Opera Podcasts You Should Be Listening To”, one of the top classical music podcasts by ARTaxMusic.com, and brianwise.com, the Indie Opera Podcast is the place to go to for news about where opera is headed. We focus on companies that are creating new operas and who are presenting the classics in new ways for wider audiences, no matter how big or small.

Information

  • Creator
    Peter Szep, Brooke Larimer, Ashley Renee Watkins, Chuck Sachs and Walker Lewis
  • Years Active
    2011 - 2024
  • Episodes
    139
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
  • Show Website
    The Indie Opera Podcast

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