Cyber Season!
May - September, 2020
In the summer of 2020, RWO created our first-ever fully online season of contemporary chamber operas, community-building events, exciting new works, artist interviews, and some rockin’ parties!
May 9 at 8pm
Adam’s Run watch party + interviews
It was the perfect time to re-watch Ruby Fulton’s Adams Run! RWO presented a live-stream of this dangerously fun post-apocalyptic video opera about the taboo courtship of existential weather woman Julie Shore and evangelist weather man the Reverend Billy Noble, during the inevitable climate change apocalypse, as told by duty bound producer Dana-Daring.
After the screening, audiences joined RWO for a live interview with our creative team, Baynard Woods, Rachel Dwiggins, and Ruby Fulton, hosted by Dana Daring herself!
May 23 at 8pm
Cyber Salon: American Northwest
Rhymes With Opera took its long-running and popular Salon series online, using this unique opportunity to feature composers and performers from around the country! Our first Cyber Salon featured performers from the American Northwest, and included live performances by RWO Founding Member Ruby Fulton (Mosocw, ID); composer and singer-songwriter Dylan Champagne (Moscow, ID); Lauren Shusterich, singer from the band Wild Honey (Portland, OR); and Danielle Jagelski, conductor, vocalist, composer and founding member of the Motus Vocal Ensemble (Portland, OR).
Monday, June 15th at 9pm
Rhymes With Opera at the New Music Gathering
We were thrilled to be selected to perform at the 2020 New Music Gathering Reimagined in Portland, OR. We presented the world premiere of Triptych: Three Disasters, a chamber opera scene with music by Andrea Reinkemeyer and libretto by Patrick Wohlmut. Triptych has three different timelines and stories describing real and imagined environmental events in the state of Oregon, and was commissioned by RWO specifically for the New Music Gathering and their 2020 theme of Local Action.
July 13-19
Pocket Opera Workshop (P.O.W.) for Composers
For the first time ever, the 2020 RWO Pocket Opera Workshop was held entirely in cyberspace, and brought together six composer fellows for a weeklong series of webinars and online workshops on writing for the operatic stage. RWO composers Ruby Fulton and George Lam led the workshop, which culminated in a closed reading of new works by the invited composer fellows, written specifically for the RWO ensemble of singers.
Photo from a P.O.W. concert at the National Opera Center
July 25 at 8pm
SoCal Cyber Salon
RWO presented a second Cyber Salon in July! This time, we featured artists and composers from Southern California.
The artists featured in the SoCal Cyber Salon included RWO Founding Member Bonnie Lander (Baltimore, MD by way of San Diego); Odeya Nini (Los Angeles); Francisco Eme (San Diego); Leslie Ann Leytham (San Diego); and Jonathan Nussman (San Diego).
August 1 at 8pm
Release Party: Rumpelstiltskin
Remember our 10th Anniversary production, the incomparable Rumpelstiltskin by Ruby Fulton and George Lam with a libretto by John Clum? We got ourselves into a studio with recording engineer Matthew Sullivan and made a killer recording! Join us in celebrating the release with a first listen, live interviews with the entire creative team, and more!
This very special album release party featured brand-new remixes of Rumpelstiltskin created by RWO founding members and friends of the company.
From left: Bonnie Lander, Robert Maril, and Elisabeth Halliday in Rumpelstiltskin.
September 12 at 8pm
1-minute operas
What do you do when you’re stuck at home and can’t rehearse with anyone? Commission a ton of a capella 1-minute operas! Rhymes With Opera worked with an amazing diversity of composers over the years and we asked them to create 1-minute operas for our ensemble. It was a performance brought to you by the whole RWO family!
