RED GIANT

Music by Adam Matlock
Libretto by Brian Slattery
Directed by Ashley Tata

A live, digital, sci-fi opera experience
June 20, 2021

Overview

To conclude the 2020-21 season, Rhymes With Opera presented its first-ever online production: a live, digital, sci-fi opera experience of a new production of Adam Matlock and Brian Slattery’s Red Giant, which RWO first presented in a fully staged production in 2013. Matlock and Slattery’s surreal, futuristic opera centers on an intimate story about three individuals confined to a spaceship as they embark on a journey towards an unknown destination. As the sun engulfs the planet they have just fled, the three protagonists reflect on the futility of their search for a new home and their need to hold onto hope.

RWO’s 2021 revival of Red Giant featured the three RWO singers for whom the piece was originally composed, including soprano Elisabeth Halliday-Quan, soprano Bonnie Lander, and baritone Robert Maril. This gripping one-act chamber opera was presented in a special digital streaming production directed by Ashley Tata, who created RWO’s production of Heartbreak Express in 2015.

Cast

Elisabeth Halliday-Quan (soprano)
Bonnie Lander (soprano)
Robert Maril (baritone)

Production

Ashley Tata, director
Eamonn Farrell, video designer
Afsoon Pajoufar, scenic and costume designer
Aislinn Curry, stage manager
David Crandall, sound effects designer and recorded voice
Josh Kittle, additional technical assistant
Michelle Tabnick, publicist

Orchestra

Thomas Lai, violin
Tia Allen, viola
Jennifer Girone-Virgilio, cello
Zach Herchen, saxophone
Christopher Wilson, piano
Maiko Hosoda, percussion
George Lam, music preparation
Robert Maril, recording engineer

Composer’s Note

As a lifelong fan of Science Fiction and a composer enamored of opera as a medium, it only made sense to combine the two when given the opportunity to work on a piece. Of course in the beginning the scenario — people trying to escape a planet’s surface that has become uninhabitable due to their sun becoming the titular Red Giant — was pure fantasy. But in the nearly decade since this piece was first written, we’ve seen governments and societies struggle to reach a consensus as to whether or not climate change is really happening in the face of readily observable evidence — and it’s hard not to feel that this story has gained some resonance in the face of that. And of course, even in the face of a true existential crisis, humans will still find time to bicker.

- Adam Matlock
composer, Red Giant

Production Support

Red Giant was made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Rhymes With Opera’s 2020-21 season is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and by the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University.