South Bend Symphony And Shakespeare At Notre Dame Unite for SHAKESPEARE'S DREAMS in November

The South Bend Symphony Orchestra will unite with Shakespeare at Notre Dame to create an enchanting evening of Shakespeare's Dreams, the second installment of the Jack M. Champaigne Masterworks Series on November 11, 2023, at 7:30 p.m. at the Morris Performing Arts Center. Weaving the music of Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Sibelius's The Tempest with the words of William Shakespeare, this performance comes to life with immersive visuals by projection designer Camilla Tassi. This trifecta of talent creates an extraordinary event that promises to immerse audiences in the magical world of Shakespeare.

"Shakespeare's Dreams marks Shakespeare at Notre Dame's fifth collaboration with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra," remarks Scott Jackson, Executive Director of Shakespeare at Notre Dame, "this time pairing two of Shakespeare's most beloved plays with works by two of the world's most beloved composers. Partnering with the Symphony and putting our respective work in conversation enriches our engagement with the timeless themes found in Shakespeare's canon. And the result is positively joyful!"

Music Director Alastair Willis shares, "the Symphony thrives on developing and maintaining relationships with our community's rich performing arts scene. We are thrilled to be collaborating again with world-class that is 'Shakespeare at Notre Dame.' We have crafted a unique presentation of two iconic plays that combines Shakespeare's immortal texts with gorgeous music by Mendelssohn and Sibelius. Add the projection design of University of Notre Dame alum Camilla Tassi, and this will be a musical and theatrical night to remember, of the highest quality."

In the union of music, words, and visual artistry, Shakespeare's Dreams promises to be an unforgettable evening of enchantment. The collaboration between the South Bend Symphony Orchestra and Shakespeare at Notre Dame is bound to elevate the world of Shakespeare to new heights.

The South Bend Symphony Orchestra thanks Jack M. Champaigne for supporting the Masterworks Series. Additionally, the Symphony acknowledges Jordan Lexus of Mishawaka as a distinguished Artistic Sponsor of the 2023-24 Season, reflecting their commitment to fostering artistic excellence and enriching the community through exceptional musical experiences.

Single Tickets

ONLINE - www.southbendsymphony.org

PHONE - Morris Performing Arts Center Box Office 574-235-9190  

(10 am - 4 pm, Tuesday & Wednesday, 10 - 5:30 p.m., Thursday & Friday) 

IN-PERSON - Visit the Morris Box Office (211 N. Michigan St., South Bend) during the times listed above or two hours before any performance or stop by the Symphony Office (127 N. Michigan St., South Bend) between (10 am - 4 pm, Tuesday - Friday).

To VIEW the 2023-24 Season schedule, visit www.southbendsymphony.org 

Dates, programs, and venues are subject to change.

About the South Bend Symphony Orchestra

The South Bend Symphony Orchestra lives its mission by engaging the community in exploring orchestral music in all its forms, producing more than 20 mainstage programs serving more than 17,000 attendees annually. As the region's only professional orchestra, the Symphony is committed to a diversity of sound and a robust arts community in Michiana.

In addition to being recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts and other state and local arts funding organizations, the South Bend Symphony Orchestra is the recipient of the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County's Leighton Award for Nonprofit Excellence, which recognizes the best-run nonprofit organization in St. Joseph County, Indiana.

About Shakespeare at Notre Dame

Officially established in 2007, Shakespeare at Notre Dame's mission is to fuse the University's pursuit of compassionate social justice with the study of the works of William Shakespeare. The program's reach extends deep into the South Bend community, with a number of community-focused events every year, and beyond, to audiences from over a dozen countries across the world.

Combining humanistic pedagogy and the world's greatest works of literature, Shakespeare at Notre Dame encompasses a number of different initiatives including the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, Actors From The London Stage, and many others. Shakespeare at Notre Dame also partners with their sister organizations, the Not-So-Royal Shakespeare Company and the Robinson Community Learning Center.

Of particular interest to Michiana residents are the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival and the Shakespeare in Prisons Network, both of which incorporate programs expressly designed for community impact. The NDSF's Touring and Community Companies play to thousands of area residents every year in over a dozen different locations, featuring a full-scale touring performance, as well as long-standing community favorites like ShakeScenes and popular new events like Shakespeare After Hours.

Finally, the Shakespeare in Prisons Network, founded at Notre Dame, was designed to build societal re-engagement skills for incarcerated populations, with regular Shakespeare classes taught by Shakespeare at Notre Dame Mary Irene Ryan Executive Director Scott Jackson at Westville Correctional Facility in Westville, Indiana.

About Camilla Tassi

Born in Florence, Italy, and described by Third Coast Percussion as "sharing passion for meaningful cross-disciplinary collaboration", Camilla Tassi is a designer and musician interested in the production of new period music and theatrical performances.

Her work as a projection designer includes Golijov's Falling Out of Time (Carnegie Hall), Purcell's King Arthur (Lincoln Center, Juilliard415), Apollo's Fire's tour of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (Cal Performances & UMS Michigan), Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror (Baltimore Center Stage & Long Wharf Theater), Esmail's Malhaar (Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA Master Chorale), Talbot's Path of Miracles (Conspirare, TX), Mozart's Magic Flute (Berlin Opera Academy), Handel's Alcina (Yale Opera), Lady M (Heartbeat Opera), Tesori's Fun Home (David Geffen School of Drama), as well as for recitals, chamber music, and theater at Curtis, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, IU opera, PROTOTYPE Festival, Mass MoCA, and others.

As a video designer, she has led design and film work for groups such as The Washington Chorus (DC), Les Délices (OH), The Princeton Festival (NJ), and Chicago Ear Taxi Festival (IL).

Passionate about the production process, she has produced and directed musical works, including Song from the Uproar by Missy Mazzoli and Talk to Me Like the Rain by Larry Delinger. She's also produced G.F. Handel's La Resurrezione HWV 47 and If This is a Man: music, science, and humanity, an interdisciplinary project and tribute to Italian chemist and author Primo Levi - which included the US Premiere of Ennio Morricone's Se questo e` un uomo for chamber orchestra, soprano, and reciting voice. Other productions include an original multimedia presentation on Giacomo Carissimi's music, Pen e tormenti.

As an Italian coach & translator, she has created program translations for Carnegie Hall (L'Arpeggiata), worked for Apollo's Fire, and coached diction for recitals and performances.

As a coloratura soprano, Camilla has had the chance to perform operatic roles such as "Cunegonde" in Leonard Bernstein's Candide, "Celia" in Roger Steptoe's opera premiere As You Like It, and "Drusilla" in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea. Chorally, she sang with the Yale Schola Cantorum and NYPhil. She's also taken lessons in piano, organ, and harpsichord.

She has guest lectured at institutions including Princeton, Yale, Penn State, and Dartmouth.

Camilla holds a BS in Computer Science and a BA in Music (with a Minor in Italian Studies) from the University of Notre Dame and a MA in Digital Musics at Dartmouth College. She was a Research Fellow in Projection Design at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, where she completed an MFA under Wendall Harrington.

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