Guerilla Opera Announces Two New Operas in Their Seventh Season

Guerilla Opera announces two new operas in their seventh season: an original production of Andy Vores's No Exit from September 19-22, 2013, adapted from the play by Jean-Paul Sartre, with stage direction by Nathan Troup; and the world premiere of Gallo in May 2014, with music and libretto by Ken Ueno and stage direction by Sarah Meyers. Both operas will feature scenic design by Julia Noulin-Mérat. All performances are in The Zack Box Theater at The Boston Conservatory, 8 The Fenway, Boston, MA. Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 seniors and free for students with valid IDs; tickets for the September performances can be purchased from The Boston Conservatory Box Office online at www.bostonconservatory.edu/tickets or by phone at (617) 912-9222 beginning September 9, 2013.

NO EXIT BY ANDY VORES - SEPTEMBER 19-22, 2013
Adapted from Jean-Paul Sartre's play No Exit, this opera tells the story of three people who are ushered into a room in hell only to discover that there is no greater demonic torture than each other.

No Exit was commissioned and premiered by Guerilla Opera in April 2008 to much acclaim. Lloyd Schwartz, formerly of The Boston Phoenix, wrote that No Exit was "the best new opera of 2008," while Richard Dyer, formerly of The Boston Globe, quoted in The Boston Conservatory's STAGES Newsletter that No Exit was "a signature event of the city's 2007-2008 season."

GALLO BY KEN UENO - MAY 2014
Gallo is an evening-length chamber opera that investigates how the landscape and man shape and transform each other. The main inspiration for the work is found in places where traces of human civilization-ancient and modern-have decayed over time and been transformed into landscapes that now appear to be more natural than manmade. While these spaces are repositories of human memory, they also confound man's sense of agency and freedom, as well as his sense of mastery over nature.

This opera promises to be visually exciting, featuring a beach made out of Cheerios and a countertenor vocalist in a chicken suit.

This season is made possible through the generosity of Timothy and Jane Gillette and The Boston Conservatory Ensemble-in-Residence program. For more information visit Guerilla Opera online at www.guerillaopera.com.

ABOUT THE COMPOSERS

ANDY VORES was born in Wales and raised in England. He studied composition at Lancaster University with Edward Cowie. In 1982 he worked in London as Lecturer and Composer-in-Residence at The City University. In 1986 he was a Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood, studying with Oliver Knussen. He has lived in Boston since 1990. From 1999 to 2001 he was Composer-in-Residence to the BankBoston Celebrity Series, and from 2002 to 2005 served as Composer-in-Residence to the New England Philharmonic. In 2001 he was appointed as Chair of Composition, Theory, and Music History at The Boston Conservatory. Commissions include Freshwater (The Boston University Opera Institute); Bulldancer (Boston Ballet), Head Down Legs Up (Welsh Arts Council); World Wheel (The Cantata Singers); Bubble (US Mexico Fund for Culture); Quartet No.3 (Chamber Music America); Wetherby Nocturne (The Barlow Endowment); Uncertainty is Beautiful (Boston Modern Orchestra Project/BMOP);Goback Goback and Weegee (Collage New Music); and Forgot, Often, Air Baby, andUmberhulk (Boston Musica Viva). Awards and prizes include a Koussevitsky Fellowship, the Kucyna International Composition Competition, the Scottish National Orchestra Ian Whyte Award, the Tanglewood Prize for Composition, the Omaha Symphony Guild New Music Contest, the Richmond International Festival, The National Orchestral Association, and the Huddersfield Festival. His music has been broadcast in Europe and the U.S., and can be heard on Urban Affair, a recently released CD of chamber music. Recent performances include No Exit by Chicago Opera Vanguard, Objects and Intervals for Brave New Works, Leif for Boston Musica Viva, Two Fabrications for BMOP, and Natural Selection for The Cantata Singers. (www.andyvores.com)

A recipient of the Rome Prize and the Berlin Prize, KEN UENO, is a composer/vocalist who is currently an Associate Professor at University of California at Berkeley. Ensembles and performers who have played Ueno's music include Kim Kashkashian and Robyn Schulkowsky, Mayumi Miyata, Teodoro Anzellotti, Wendy Richman, Greg Oakes, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Alarm Will Sound, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP), the Nieuw Ensemble, and Frances-Marie Uitti. His music has been performed at such venues as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MusikTriennale Köln Festival, the Muziekgebouw, Ars Musica, Warsaw Autumn, Other Minds, the Hopkins Center, Spoleto USA, Steim, as well as at the Norfolk Music Festival. Ueno's piece for the Hilliard Ensemble, Shiroi Ishi, has been featured in their repertoire for more than ten years, with performances at such venues as Queen Elizabeth Hall in England and the Vienna Konzerthaus, and the piece was aired on Italian national radio, RAI 3. Another work, Pharmakon, was performed nationally dozens of times by Eighth Blackbird during their 2001-2003 seasons. A portrait concert of Ueno's was featured on MaerzMusik in Berlin in 2011. As a vocalist, he specializes in extended techniques and has collaborated in improvisations with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Joey Baron, Ikue Mori, Robyn Schulkowsky, Joan Jeanrenaud, Tim Feeney, and David Wessel, amongst others. Recently, he performed his vocal concerto with the Warsaw Philharmonic. Ueno holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University. A monograph CD of three orchestral concertos was released on the BMOP/sound label. (www.kenueno.com)

ABOUT GUERILLA OPERA
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. (www.guerillaopera.com)

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