Calling: An Opera of Forgiveness
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 Roland Burks and Nicole Tori,
stars of the September 2008 production of Calling. |
Calling,
an Opera of Forgiveness, recounts the up-close experience of one
downtown family on 9/11, and the month immediately following it.
Blending drama, music, choreography and a soaring architectural set, it
captures the reactions and reflections of one family witnessing the
attack on the World Trade Center at close range, and the path they take
to move from chaos to recovery and hope. La MaMa's production marks the
first full showing of the work. Segments of this work were presented at the Cornelia St. Cafe's Serial Underground in New York City from June 2007 through March 2008, in February 2008 at the Spark Festival in Minneapolis, in April on the Sonic Divergencefestival at Northwestern University, at Princeton University in May, and at a benefit performance in Tribeca in June. The opera will open September 12, 2008 at the La Mama ETC. First Floor Theater in New York City, where it will run through the month of September. Members of the press: Please contact Isabelle Deconinck: isadeco@earthlink.net Press kit materials are here. |
REVIEWS and NEWS:
August 2008:
Click HERE to hear the interview of Wickham Boyle and Doug Geers with Janet Coleman on WBAI radio's Cat Radio Cafe program, August 25, 2008.
Click HERE to see the article about Calling on the Playbill website, August 2008.
April 2008:
Click HERE to read the Time Out Chicago preview of the April 8 PLOrk concert that featured the premiere of Sweep, a section of Calling.
Click HERE to read a review of the Chicago PLOrk performance.
June 2007:
A twelve-minute concert excerpt of Calling, entitled How Long, was premiered at the Cornelia Street Café “Serial Underground” series on June 11, 2007 in New York City.
Steve Smith of the New York Times reviewed the June 11, 2007 concert, writing:
The latest installment, performed to a packed house on Monday night, included first glimpses of two operas in the making. “Calling,” by the composer Doug Geers, is based on “A Mother’s Essays From Ground Zero,” a collection of reflections on Sept. 11, 2001, by the writer and director Wickham Boyle.
In the untitled selection presented here, the soprano Erin Heisel offered a plainspoken lament that was sometimes echoed or harmonized by Lesley Watson, a mezzo-soprano. Mr. Geers, using a notebook computer, fashioned an accompaniment of street sounds, glitchy bursts and mechanical rhythms; Summer Boggess, a cellist, played keening whistles and scrabbling outbursts. Despite the clangor, the tone was generally contemplative.
Click HERE to read the entire Steve Smith New York Times review of the concert (PDF).
Nicole Davis wrote of preview piece on the June 11 concert in The Villager, writing:
A musical reconcilliation of 9/11
Wickham Boyle, editor of our sister magazine Thrive and longtime Tribeca resident, has written once before about September 11 and its aftermath in her memoir, “A Mother’s Essays from Ground Zero.” But for “Calling,” loosely drawn from the material in her book, Boyle decided to give voice to that time via a different medium. “There is nothing that says ‘this is an iconic drama’ like opera,” she says. “And is there any more iconic, dramatic moment in our own modern history than September 11?”
An opera also gives Boyle a chance to create what she calls a “reconciliation” of what has transpired since that day. A reconciliation of … ? “Of all the differences that caused this and the various schisms that seem to have gotten deeper.” The story follows one downtown family and various rescue workers, along with a third group called the Antagonists, who will be represented by music alone. Aurally and thematically, the opera will progress from dissonance to harmony.
The work in progress is a collaborative effort between Boyle, modern experimental composer Doug Geers and video artist Christine Sciulli. For the song, “Hold On,” which will premiere Monday June 11 at the Cornelia Street Café as part of the CCi Composers Collaborative series, Boyle used a few lines from the first essay in her book to create the lyrics. Geers then added the music, which will be performed by two singers and a cellist, along with the electronic music Geers programmed. It is the first in what will ultimately be a series of 16 scenes, based upon the 16 essays in Boyle’s book.
Audiences will get two more sneak peaks of “Calling” this November and next March at the Cornelia St. Café, before it is mounted in September 2008 at La MaMa, where Boyle was once its executive director. Her 20-plus years as a theater producer will serve her well as she and Geers take this to various theaters around the country, building up to a performance on the 10th anniversary of September 11.
The performance is at 8:30 p.m. at Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia St. between W. 4th and Bleecker Sts. (212-989-9319). For tickets and more information, visit www.composerscollab.org.
Click HERE to access The Villager's website.
PRESS KIT:
CLICK HERE for press materials.