The Guerillas Drop a New Album and World Premiere Film!
A monodrama with music and original libretto by local composer Beth Wiemann and is brought to life by the acclaimed filmmaker, Cara Consilvio.
By: A.A. Cristi Mar. 02, 2023
In celebration of Women's History Month, Guerilla Opera drops a new studio album and presents the world premiere of an operatic film of I Give You My Home, a monodrama with music and original libretto by local composer Beth Wiemann and is brought to life by the acclaimed filmmaker, Cara Consilvio.
Inspired by the Nichols House Museum in Boston and the life of Rose Standish Nichols, a true-life women's peace party and suffrage activist and professional landscape architect, the world premiere opera brings to light this singular Bostonian woman's efforts to affect change and "have a purpose", a linchpin statement of the libretto and theme of the film.
The opera is written for and recorded by Guerilla Opera's core ensemble members: soprano and Artistic Director Aliana de la Guardia as Rose Nichols, percussionist and co-founding artist Mike Williams, saxophonist Philipp Stäudlin. They all star in the film and are joined by young co-star Daniela Isabel McDonough (10) in her film debut.
I Give You My Home has gone through a three-part artistic journey, and is an example of Guerilla Opera's mission to reinvision new works and to expand the definition of opera. There was a live performance in June of 2022 on site at the Nichols House Museum in Boston, and the studio album and film are the final chapters in this transient saga!
The world premiere film features premier audio from the studio album, which was recorded at the University of Maine, Orono by esteemed producer and engineer, Joel Gordon, and was shot at the following lush and panoramic locations that span New England throughout May of 2022. The locations include the Nichols House Museum in Boston, Saint-Gaudens National Park in Cornish, NH, where Rose's uncle, the famed artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens resided, Rudyard Kipling House and the historic Scott Farm Orchard in Dummerston, VT, and the Path of Life Sculpture Garden and Hedge Maze in Windsor, VT.
Celebrate Women's History Month with The Guerillas by learning more about Rose Standish Nichols and I Give You My Home on their Indiegogo page, and join them for a live screening near you featuring talk-backs with the creators!
LIVE SCREENING TOUR AND VIRTUAL EVENTS SCHEDULE
Sunday, March 19, 2023, 2:00PM EST
Friday, March 24, 2023, 7:00PM EST
Live screening at The Mosesian Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA 02472
Artist talk back directly following the screening
Sunday, March 26, 2023, 2:00PM EST
Live screening at The Colonial Performing Arts Center
20 Commercial Street, Keene, NH 03431
Artist talk back directly following the screening.
Wednesday, March 29 and Thursday, March 30, 2023, 2:00PM EST
Friday, March 31, 2023, 12:00PM & 6:00PM EST
Sunday, April 2, 2023 1:00PM & 3:00M EST
Live screenings at The Portland Museum of Art
7 Congress Square, Portland, ME 04101
Talk back after the 6pm screening on Friday, March 31 and on Sunday, April 2 at 2pm.
Thursday, April 6, 2023, 7:00PM EST Livestream
Available on demand through Sunday, April 16
"I Give You My Home" is supported by a Live Arts Boston grant award from The Boston Foundation and their partners the Barr Foundation and Dunamis Boston, The Puffin Foundation, and a CIP Projects grant award from Mass Cultural Council.
The company debut of Cara Consilvio was partially supported by OPERA America's Opera Grants for Women Stage Directors and Conductors, generously funded by the Marineau Family Foundation.
The development of "I Give You My Home" has been in partnership with the University of Maine, Orono, The Switchboard artist residency program in Haverhill, MA, and co-produced by the Nichols House Museum with special thanks to their film location at the Saint-Gaudens National Park in Cornish, NH, the Rudyard Kipling House and Scott Farm Orchard in Dummerston, VT, and the Path of Life Sculpture Garden and Hedge Maze in Windsor, VT.
Guerilla Opera is a BIPOC and feminist organization, Boston's only experimental chamber opera ensemble, and one of only a few in the world with a mission to exclusively present new works of opera theater. Founded in 2007, the ensemble has accumulated a repertoire of over 40 new works by 30 composers. One of Boston's most exciting companies, they have garnered a national reputation for innovative contemporary opera and daring performances with Opera News raving that "Guerilla Opera redefines the opera experience."
The works commissioned by this artist-led ensemble are custom-tailored to their artists, who confront, examine, and question traditional conceptions of what is "operatic" by championing cutting-edge music and immersing audiences in profound experiences. Their vision is to bring new music to new audiences through a unique body of work that ferociously confronts the status quo, eschews antiquated and stereotypical traditions of the art form of opera, and examines stories by and for the people of today through contemporary lenses. They model creative authenticity and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (IDEA) in order to inspire and influence emerging generations of artists and creators. (guerillaopera.org)
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