Black Friday, This Weekend

Black Friday, the epic rock opera music thesis of Sam Ottinger '09, debuts tonight and is playing until Saturday at the '92 Theater.

This description is from early last semester, but according to Aural Wes the show still promises to be a macabre musical tale of American consumerism and blind religious rapture:

This opera is inspired by God, Death and the mall. The music, a mix of stoner metal/drone/jazz/classical & tom waits. The place, anytown U.S.A. Shopping Mall built inside of a MEGA-CHURCH. The day, Black Friday, the annal orgy consumer culture. The people, Seven sinners left behind after the rapture by a Zeus like Demi-god who urges them on as they decide their fates. There's a chorus of shoppers, a chorus of angels and demons, a pervert who loves God more than anything but can't help watching women change, an alcoholic security guard, a money grubbing evangelist and a power crazed prophet. EVERYONE DIES...almost...

Free Preview:
Wednesday, Feb 25th: 11:00pm
(No ticket necessary, just show up)

Performances:
Thursday, Feb 26th: 8:00pm
Friday, Feb 27th: 8:00pm
Saturday, Feb 28th: 2:00pm and 9:00 pm
(tickets available for free at the box office the day of the performance)

The show will run about two hours, including a fifteen-minute intermission.

More info on Facebook and Aural Wes.

World's first Yiddish Opera... with composer speaking!

Jared Gimbel '11, current President of the Wesleyan Yiddish Club and a Jewish Renaissance Fellow, sends in:

Solomon Epstein of Agawam, MA is bringing a film version of his Opera, "The Dybbuk", to Wesleyan. It was adapted from a libretto from the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music, whose efforts were sundered by the persecutions of Stalin and of Hitler.

Performed first in Israel in 1999, "The Dybbuk" is the world's FIRST Yiddish Opera, and a grand step to bringing Yiddish and that vanished world from oblivion to the 21st century.

The opera will be screened with its original cast on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2008 at 8:00, in PAC 001. Sol will be showing the connection between traditional Jewish folk melodies and his opera in a musical demonstration, in addition to answering questions afterwards.

This is a meaningful historic work, and you should NOT miss it.

When: Sunday, Nov. 16 at 8 pm
Where: PAC 001
Why: awesome Yiddish opera, with the dude who made it there in person!

Patterns of Inheritance, Internet Opera

Come see Patterns of Inheritance, a "modern opera about the internet", by Ben Bernstein '10. This sounds ridiculously intriguing:

The entire libretto is composed of chopped up blog posts and Wikipedia articles, and the orchestrations are fragments as well. Using movement and a cast of five singers and eight instrumentalists, and six dancers, the opera attempts to paint a picture of the information we process, distribute, and inherit through the internet.

Basically, just imagine the lovechild of Phillip Glass and Gawker...a digital dream. You have 4 chances to catch the free show this Homecoming Weekend, so don't miss out!

Live performances at the '92 Theater
Dates/Times:
10/16 - 8pm
10/17 - 8pm
10/18 - 2:30pm, 8pm
Place: '92 Theater

Post-Eden opera seeks production staff

Xiaoxi Tu '09 is writing an opera to be performed in the spring, and she needs production staff:

It's an Adam and Eve story set in a post-Eden garden in Creation-Museum land. Adam names the animals. Eve un-names the animals. The orchestra is part western classical, part gamelan, part taiko, and part hip-hop. There will be fire. There will be rain. There will be nudity. There will be a giant robotic dinosaur. And if you sign up, there will be cookies. And Love. Lots and lots of Love.

All levels of expertise welcome! If you have experience, great; if not, bring extra enthusiasm.

Xiaoxi needs a stage manager and assistant stage manager, assistant director, costume designer, makeup artist, lighting designer, set designer, sound designer, stage crew, carpenter, and electrician. Email her at xtu@wes if interested.

Opera & Oratorio at Crowell

Opera & Oratorio final performance Saturday night:

In traditional mythology, the Gods become angered for various reasons. This opera chooses to explore through music three stories of this anger in Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. Music selections from Mozart, Berlioz, and Dvorak interspersed in an opera written by Steve Sunu '08.

Directed by Priscilla Gale
Written by Steve Sunu '08
Accompaniment provided by Melody Wang '10 & Steve Sunu '08

Featuring the Opera & Oratorio Ensemble:
Erik Holum
Jon Short
Keith Lee
Gregory Wong
Brian Langenmayr
Sarah Gillig
Grace Overbeke
Amanda Baker
Mica Taliaferro
Azusa Tagami
Karla Suarez
D'or Seifer
Lauren Moore
Beverly Fong
Meghan Duberek

What: Opera and Oratorio Final Performance
When: Saturday April 26th at 7:00 PM
Where: Crowell Concert Hall
$4.00 for students and seniors, $5.00 for everyone else.