The Indie Opera Podcast

The Indie Opera Podcast episodes:

• 09.07.2022

  Podcast 091: Roundtable, Opera and Community

  Letters That You Will Not Get: Women’s Voices from the Great War at AOP and Quamino’s Map at Chicago Opera Theater are both operas that opened recently whose creators we have interviewed in previous episodes; Hamlet at the Met is...

  
• 06.10.2022

  Podcast 090: 2020 OPERA America Discovery Grants Part 2

  The show features all the composer/librettist teams to receive the 2020 OPERA America Discovery Grants which support composers who identify as women in the development of new operatic works and the advancement of their careers in the opera industry. ...

  
• 05.05.2022

  Podcast 089: 2020 OPERA America Discovery Grants Part 1

  The Indie Opera Podcast is releasing an episode which was recorded in the Spring of 2020 that got derailed during the start of the pandemic, and features all the composer/librettist teams to receive the 2020 OPERA America Discovery Grants which...

  
• 04.07.2022

  Podcast 088: Quamino's Map with Deborah Brevoort, Kimille Howard, Jeri Lynne Johnson and Cori Ellison

  Joining us are Librettist and playwright Deborah Brevoort, conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson, dramaturg Cori Ellison, and director Kimille Howard discuss the origins and creative process of this unique production, which focuses on the Black Americans who fought for their liberty...

  
• 03.02.2022

  Podcast 087: Carla Lucero and Dr. Rita E. Urquijo-Ruiz, The Three Women of Jerusalem

  Carla Lucero is the first Latinx and female composer to be commissioned by LA Opera. We discover how they translated the opera into Spanish while retaining the same poetic meter, as Lucero will produce the opera in English as well. We...

  
• 02.02.2022

  Podcast 086: Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell

  Having both worked on Pulitzer Prize-winning projects, it was fascinating to hear how they view American opera and what types of stories attract them. We discussed the return of oratorios and “opera-torios,” and the first recipient of...

  
• 01.13.2022

  Podcast 085: The Hang with Taylor Mac, Matt Ray, Chanon Judson, Machine Dazzle

  Described as “a ritual celebration of queerness, questions, and the eternity of a moment,” the show is rooted in the jazz tradition and the operatic form, and imagines the final hours of Socrates. Prolific playwright and performer Taylor Mac joins...

  
• 12.02.2021

  Podcast 084: Conductor Malcolm J. Merriweather

  Malcolm is the youngest and first Black Music Director of the NYC-based The Dessoff Choirs, which is currently celebrating its 97th season with a concentration on African-American composer Margaret Bonds, a significant figure in the fight for civil rights. Malcolm...

  
• 11.08.2021

  Podcast 083: Matthew Aucoin and Sarah Ruhl, Eurydice

  We discuss the history and meaning of this oft-adapted myth, and what drew both writers to it. We delve into their creative process, and discover why Sarah chose to make some key changes to the story and characters. We also...

  
• 10.13.2021

  Podcast 082: Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres

  Michael and Larry describe how they met, the wrench thrown into their international performance schedules by Covid, and what they got up to while stuck at home. We also discuss how both singers have sought to give back; Michael through...

  
• 06.02.2021

  Podcast 081: Rosina, a Hip Hop Opera, Pinky Ring, KahhREE Laurent and George Cederquist

  We are joined by George Cederquist, director, K.F. Jacques, composer and hip-hop artist playing Figaro, and Pinqy Ring, the hip-hop artist who plays Rosina. Soon to return to Chicago’s free “Night Out in the Parks” series, the piece features lyrics...

  
• 05.04.2021

  Podcast 080: Driving While Black

  We learn how this timely and moving piece was created, and the ways that the medium of film enabled the creators to use dance and imagery to delve deeper into the emotional layers of the story. Maestro Wood talks about...

  
• 04.02.2021

  Podcast 079: Michael Mayes, from Opera to Oprey

  We also learn how Atlanta Opera is continuing to present operas during Covid, and reaching new audiences with Crossroads concerts. Theres plenty of Bluegrass and salty language in this episode so advise that you use your headphones around children and...

  
• 03.03.2021

  Podcast 078: Our Tenth Anniversary Show, with Noah Lethbridge

  With Noah’s help we reflect on the last ten years in the opera world: what has changed, where we’re headed, and some of our favorite memories of past episodes and guests. Peter Szep takes us back to 2011 and the...

  
• 02.02.2021

  Podcast 077: John Holiday

  John describes his incredible journey from growing up in a small town near Houston to becoming a sought-after international opera singer soon to be making his Metropolitan Opera debut. He offers many uplifting life lessons along the way, including...

  
• 12.21.2020

  Podcast 076: Afton Battle, General Director of Fort Worth Opera

  Afton Battle, the new General Director of Fort Worth Opera, after having left a career as an opera singer to work in strategic consulting and development for the National Black Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, the Joffrey Ballet, and the...

  
• 12.11.2020

  Podcast 075: Welcoming Ashley Renee Watkins, Our New Co-host!

  Our panel examines how several American opera companies are innovating during Covid Times. Highlights include On Site Opera, Seattle Opera, dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, San Francisco Opera, City Lyric Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and Houston Grand Opera.

  
• 05.04.2020

  Podcast 074: Opera Memphis, Ned Canty and Michael Sakir

  What is an opera companie's civic responsibility especially in this period of pandemic shutdown? What skill sets should they have been cultivating to be an engaged and engaging 21st Century arts organization? We learn about the programming that led them to...

  
• 04.23.2020

  Podcast 073: Sarah Fraser and Gregory Moomjy

  The classical live performance world is three weeks into the complete shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. How are opera companies treating their contracted artists? How much more prepared are the new generation of artists in working the business of...

  
• 03.24.2020

  Podcast 072: Arnold Livingston Geis and Chabrelle Williams

  Arnold Geis is a Los Angeles based tenor and performer for Film, Television, video games, and opera companies around the world and Soprano Chabrelle Williams who is an an avid arts advocate, and three-time District winner of the New York...

  
• 03.04.2020

  Podcast 071: Matt Gray and Mila Henry from The American Opera Project

  Our guests from Brooklyn-based creative producing company The American Opera Project assumed leadership of this thirty-year old company in July 2019. In addition to curating AOP’s season and overall output, they also provide theatrical and musical dramaturgy to AOP works...

  
• 02.03.2020

  Podcast 070: IDEA Opera Grants and Laura Lee Everett

  We listen to selections from "Hu Tong", Kui Dong Composer, Monika Datta Librettist; and "The Veil", Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei, Composer (دانیال رضا سبزقبایی), Yashar Saghai and Mina Salehpour, Co-Librettist.We also question how white opera is, the influence of Flamenco on...

  
• 01.02.2020

  Podcast 069: Ricky Ian Gordon and Jennifer Zetlan in Ellen West

  We sit down for an invigorating discussion with composer Ricky Ian Gordon & soprano Jennifer Zetlan about the chamber opera Ellen West which is receiving it’s NYC premiere as part of Prototype Festival 2020. Jennifer talks about her solo debut album with...

  
• 12.02.2019

  Podcast 068: Louisa Proske and Daniel Schlosberg from Heartbeat Opera

  The Indie Opera Podcast sits down for a fascinating conversation with director Louisa Proske and Music Director/Arranger Daniel Schlosberg two of the co-founders of Heartbeat Opera about their contemporary version of Weber’s Der Freischutz.

  
• 11.01.2019

  Podcast 067: Joseph Martin Waters, Dr. Daniel Pate and Rodolfo Giron

  Indie Opera Podcast's co-hosts welcome Joseph Martin Waters, Dr. Daniel Pate and Rodolfo Giron for a fascinating conversation about the new opera they’ve been developing, El Colibri Magico (The Magic Hummingbird) - A California Story, which is an update of...

  
• 10.02.2019

  Podcast 066: Greogry Spears and Natalie Polito

  Guest co-host and soprano Natalie Polito joins us in a conversation with Gregory Spears, who is currently working on a new evening-length opera, Castor and Patience, with former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy K. Smith, commissioned by...

  
• 09.13.2019

  Special Podcast: Opera Philadelphia Festival O'19

  In part one of Indie Opera Podcast’s coverage of Opera Philadelphia’s 019 Festival, Chuck Sachs talks first with Conductor Gary Thor Wedow, Mezzo-Soprano Daniela Mack and Tenor Alek Shrader about their work as part of Director James Darrah’s production of...

  
• 09.03.2019

  Podcast 065: Tenor Barry Banks

  Internationally renowned bel canto tenor Barry Banks and his youthful goal to be a concert trumpet player morphed into his highly successful career in opera. Other topics covered include how to co-parent a 13-month-old while on tour, and mr. Banks'...

  
• 08.01.2019

  Podcast 064: Victoria Bond

  With infectious charm and humor, Victoria Bond shares stories about singing in the NYCO children's chorus, visits from the hoi polloi of the classical music world to her childhood apartment, studying acting at UCLA, being introduced to conducting by Leonard...

  
• 07.02.2019

  Podcast 063: Vivien Schweitzer, Author and Journalist

  Indie Opera Podcast's regular suspects sit down for a engaging conversation with author, Vivien Schweitzer about her delightfully informative book, A Mad Love: an Introduction to Opera, her varied career as a journalist and critic and her return to live...

  
• 06.11.2019

  Podcast 062: Winners of the 2019 OPERA America Women Composers Discovery Grants

  We listen to samples of the work of the 2019 Opera Discovery Grants for Female Composers

  
• 05.01.2019

  Podcast 061: Nico Muhly

  We are joined by the brilliant Nico Muhly, composer of "Marnie" based on the Alfred Hitchcock film which was performed at the English National Opera and at the Metropolitan Opera in 2018. We talk about his experience writing for singers...

  
• 04.01.2019

  Podcast 059: Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson

  Jeanine and Tazewell talk about their collaboration and the genesis BLUE, a story about police violence and it’s affect on one family, the opera takes its influence from current events as well as Tazewell’s own experiences as a black man...

  
• 03.18.2019

  Opera Fix: March 18, 2019

  Mezzo Siena Licht Miller and countertenor Tim Meade From Opera Philadelphia's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, by Benjamin Britten

  
• 03.01.2019

  Podcast 059: Mark Campbell librettist

  Mark brings his humor, brilliance and insight to set's us straight on our website, dramaturgs, creating characters we can care about and building stories that matter. It was a real joy to have him on our show.

  
• 02.22.2019

  Opera Fix: February 22, 2019

  Chuck Sachs interviews Anna Christy who plays Titania in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at Opera Philadelphia

  
• 02.07.2019

  Podcast 058: Jillian Flexner, and Hunag Ruo: Bound

  Jillian Flexner, composer, basoonist and co-founder and Director of the Fresh Squeezed Opera Company and Huang Ruo, Composer, Pianist and Vocalist join us to talk about Huang Ruo’s “Bound” and we take a long look at the representation of women...

  
• 01.10.2019

  Opera Fix: January 10, 2019

  Melanie Milton, Festival Producer for The Protoype Festival joins Chuck Sachs to talk about how the Festival has changed now that it has it's own independent leadership.

  
• 01.09.2019

  Opera Fix: January 9, 2019

  Chuck Sachs interviews Singer and Writer Joseph Keckler who's Train With No Midnight, is running at HERE Dorothy B. Williams Theatre as part of the Prototype Festival 2019.

  
• 01.07.2019

  Opera Fix: January 7, 2019

  The Prototype Festival has started and runs through January 13th in New York. Chuck interviews Leah Coloff, Composer, Cellist, Singer and Performer who's ThisTree looks at a to investigate the vantage point of being the last branch on the family...

  
• 01.01.2019

  Podcast 057: Evan Mack and The Ghosts of Gatsby

  Evan Mack's opera The Ghosts of Gatsby will be performed at the National Opera Center January 11, 2019.

  
• 12.01.2018

  Podcast 056: Opera and Mental Health with Inna Dukach and Katy Lindhart

  How do performers cope with the unique pressures of the opera business? And how can we as individuals and as members of the opera community do better in caring for ourselves and each other?

  
• 11.13.2018

  Opera Fix: November 12, 2018

  This week we have chuck’s interview with Stephanie Blythe, who joined up with drag performer Dito van Reigersberg, also known as Martha Graham Cracker to create a 3 night serial gender-bending cabaret play series as part of Opera Philadelphia’s...

  
• 11.01.2018

  Podcast 055: Stan Lacy from New Camerata Opera

  Every opera company is looking for the golden formula for success—how does an opera company develop new audiences and plan for the future?

  
• 10.15.2018

  Podcast 054: Douglas Cuomo and Savage Winter

  Douglas J. Cuomo joins us for a lively discussion about his latest production, Savage Winter. We also talk about Arjuna's Dilemma which he performed in Kathmandu.

  
• 10.10.2018

  Opera Fix: October 10, 2018

  Chuck Sachs interviews James Darrah, Director and Christopher Allen Music Director and Pianist for Ne Quittez Pas: A Reimagined La voix humaine, featuring Patricia Racette which was presented as part of Philadelphia Opera's Festival O 2018.

  
• 10.08.2018

  Opera Fix: October 8, 2018

  Chuck Sachs Interviews Christian Van Horn who sang Raimondo Bidebent in Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera Philadelphia's Festival O 2018, and who will be singing the title role in Mefistofele at the MET this season.

  
• 10.01.2018

  Opera Fix: October 1, 2018

  Chuck Sachs interviews Marietta Simpson who sang Martha in Lembit Beecher's Sky On Swings from Opera Philadelphia Festival O 2018.

  
• 09.17.2018

  Opera Fix: September 17, 2018

  Opera Philadelphia's Festival O18 begins with Sky on Swings and we recommend checking out Glass Handel. David Lang's Mile Long Opera is sold out. Nico Muhly's Marnie at the MET, and Satyagraha comes to BAM.

  
• 09.10.2018

  Opera Fix: September 10, 2018

  Chuck Sachs interviews Lembit Beecher Composer of Sky on Swings, which will have it's premiere September 20 - 29 part of Philadelphia Opera's festival O 2018