Opera Parallèle presents the first workshop reading of Dante De Silva’s Gesualdo, Prince of Madness, at 7 p.m. on June 7 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
During the reading, the company will also debut theconcept of “GraphicOpera,” the melding of the graphic novel with operatic performance.
The two-act opera examines the "sometimes flexible nature of justice" through the figure of Carlo Gesualdo, a 16th-century composer who is accused of murder but escapes prosecution because of his noble status.
The Los Angeles composer incorporates renaissance colors in homage to the title character by including a theorbo, a plucked instrument.
Concept designer Brian Staufenbiel, illustrator Mark Simmons and animator Sony Green explore a new idea in bringing the music and text to life by using a series of illustrations and animations, done in a traditional graphic novel style, projected onto a large, central screen.
Photo by Kristin Schellinger
Artistic Director Nicole Paiement conducts a musical ensemble featuring lutenist Adam Cockerham on theorbo, percussionist McKenzie Camp, pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi, and Eva-Maria Zimmerman on electronic keyboard. Baritone Daniel Cilli leads the cast as the heartbroken Carlo Gesualdo, alongside Chris Filipowicz as his servant Orazio.
Michelle Rice plays Maria Gesualdo and Andres Ramirez (recently in Opera Parallèle’s production of Trouble in Tahiti), plays Maria’s secret lover Fabrizio. Maya Kherani (Nuria in Opera Parallèle’s production of Ainadamar) is Leonora, Carlo’s second wife. Nikola Printz will play the servants, Anna and Patrizia, as well as the herbalist, Artemisia. Rounding out the cast is a female trio sung by Sarah Eve Brand, Lora Libby, and Rachel Rush.
"Opera Parallèle is fearlessly committed to expanding appreciation for contemporary opera," says Paiement. "I’ve long admired Dante De Silva and the company is thrilled to offer the public a first glimpse at our workshop. Not only will audiences get a chance to preview the music, but we will also be ‘previewing’ a new way of bringing the music to life visually with the debut of GraphicOpera. This will be a sort of laboratory experiment in the music and visual arts — another step in our process of encouraging dialogue and opening minds to contemporary opera."
The workshop presentation is free and open to the public, but the small space of the Sol Joseph Recital Hall is likely to be filled to capacity, so advanced reservations are recommended from Opera Parallèle.