🌟 Coming soon TO INVIsION🌟

The inaugural recital of the INVISION recital series. IN Series founder and pianist, Carla Hubner with mezzo soprano Elizabeth Mondragon reunite at SOURCE Theatre in Washington DC to perform a special recital for you. These old friends and beloved performers present a collection of German lieder and cabaret songs by Schumann and Schonberg, French art songs by Debussy, Mexican folk and popular song, and works by contemporary composer David Sisco.

The world premiere of Pleiades | 24 Season 5 on INVISION. Join performers and creators for a panel discussion on the work at 4:30 in the Savada-Stevenson Lounge, then visit the Live Studio at 5:00 for the first-ever viewing of the final films of the series that reimagines the 24 Italian Songs and Arias as a vehicle for telling contemporary women's stories.

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The LIFTOFF of our 2020-2021 Season!

With a taste of what's to come and a celebration of the IN Series family.
Featuring the talents of:
Adonis Abuyen, Brian Arreola, Maribeth Diggle, Teresa Ferrara, Joe Haughton, Carla Hubner, Bryan Jackson, Elise Jenkins, Byron Jones, Jarrod Lee, Elizabeth Mondragon, Malcom Payne, Nigel Rowe, David Sanchez, Cara Schaefer, John T.K. Scherch, Paula Sides, Ben Williamson, Melissa Wimbish, Judy Chirinno Yannini, Kristin Young, The Pleiades Project, and the Chorus of Shenendoah University. With Music Direction by Emily Baltzer

And appearances by: 
Timothy Nelson, Bari Biern, Melissa Dunphy, Emily Baltzer

Puccini's classic is given new force in a theatre experience that reveals the raw humanity behind the epic score. Profoundly arresting, this new version is stripped of the distancing exoticism of the original and returns the structure of the source material that inspired the overwhelming music.  Performed in Italian with English subtitles.

concept by Timothy Nelson
music DIrection and arrangement by Jessica Krash

with

Maribeth Diggle, Butterfly
Brian Arreola, Pinkerton
Elizabeth Mondragon, Suzuki
Eric Grendahl, Sharpless

INspired by Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST, the story of colonization and subjugation is retold from the perspective of Sycorax, mother of Caliban and mistress of Ariel. Without voice in the original, here she has the agency to present her own journey. Told with the music of Billie Holiday (My Man, Strange Fruit, Don’t Explain, God Bless the Child), in poetic-prose written by Sybil Williams, this cabaret-club evening of song, word, and beat explores the experience of peoples enslaved by privilege and even love.

written by Sybil Williams
direction by Alison Wong
music direction by Greg Watkins

with

Michelle Rogers, Sycorax
Nigel Rowe, Ariel
Jabari Exum, Caliban
Matty Griffiths, Prospero

by American Kate Soper, explores with humor and pathos the experience of Homer’s Odyssean three singers. At once whimsical, witty, wondrous, and weird, this opera portrays the three mythical sirens pondering the meaning of their own beings, the tension of their history and their future, between brief pauses when they woo, wound, and consume the poor sailors passing by. Performed by three sopranos and a piano they themselves manipulate, the work combines singing, speaking, extended vocal techniques, and a wry approach to lyrical anthropology which conjures laughter and contemplation.

by Kate Soper
direction by Brian J. Shaw

with

Julie Bosworth
Camille Crossrot
Noelle McMurtry

Released in 2014, SONGS OF THE FISHERMAN is a collaboration of composer Timothy Nelson (IN Series artistic director), poet Andrew Albin (ORPHEE ET EURYDICE, 2020), and tenor Brian Arreola(VIVA V.E.R.D.I., 2018, BUTTERFLY, 2019). The work is a ritualized meditation on the human life-cycle composed an evocative and culturally diverse texts. Praised by Opera News, the identities of the characters and the meaning of the narrative are created by the viewer.

with

Brian Arreola, tenor
Alison Mixon, dancer

Acis + Galatea
by GF Handel
filmed at the Baltimore Theatre Project

Stage Direction, Timothy Nelson
Music Direction, Adam Pearl and Timothy Nelson
Design by Kel Millione
Ignoti Dei Orchestra

Acis the mime, Aaron Sheehan
Galatea the trapeze girl, Rebecca Duren
Polyphemus the sad clown, Sumner Thompson
Damon the ringmaster, Tony Boutee
Coridon the dancing bear, Kristen Dubenion-Smith

SYNOPSIS:
Amidst the hum and drum of a post-modernity, a traveling troupe of singing circus folk gather to perform for you the story of "Acis and Galatea," an ancient tale that has been passed down among untold generations of street performers.  The story of "Acis and Galatea" is the classic tale of boy meets girl, boy gets girl, one-eyed monster crushes boy with rock, and boy turns into fountain.   This ground-breaking production turns the theatre into a circus tent, reknowned singers into mimes, trapeze girls, clows, and even a dancing bear, and turns traditional opera on its head.

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Alison Wong, stage director of Stormy Weather, discusses the work and her process.

Soprano Noelle McMurtry (Polyxo in Here Be Sirens) discusses the production and process with Stage Director, Brian J. Shaw

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Aconversation on RACE and OPERA nter around race, colonialism, and orientalism in opera, and how it informs casting, concepting, and the full in inclusion of people of color in the opera industry today. Brittani McNeill, Colin Michael Brush, Artistic Administrator of Washington National Opera, and Dr. Lester Green, Artistic Director of CAAPA - Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts

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A conversation on GENDER and OPERA explores the depiction of women in 19th century opera and how the ritual portrayal of women in the operas of Puccini and his contemporaries informs the role of women as artistic leaders in the opera industry today. Corinne Hayes, Assistant Stage Director at Washington National Opera, Soprano Maribeth Diggle, and Anne Midgette, Classical Music Critic for The Washington Post form the panel.

Stage Director, Alison Wong, introduces Sybil Williams' STORMY WEATHER

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Taken from IN Series' 2020 "Voices In Solidarity" Concert - Jarrod Lee performs a selection from Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun, followed by Nigel Rowe singing Strange Fruit

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Soprano and activist Noelle McMurtry discusses her curation of IN Series' Women's Composer Festival

The Cast of IN Series' 2019 production of Handel's Tale Of Serse (directed by Timothy Nelson) performs the finale of the work, paired with poetry by Rumi, and accompanied by the Tehran Symphony Orchestra in an international collaboration.

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Songs Of The Fisherman composer, Timothy Nelson, and librettist, poet, and scholar Andrew Albin discuss their work.

A concert honoring Juneteenth.
Hosted by Stanley Thurston and featuring Jarrod Lee, Carl DuPont, Melissa Wimbish, and Brittani McNeill

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The cast of IN Series' Rigoletto (cancelled due to COVID-19) joins together for QUARENTETTO - bringing the famous quartet from the opera, with new English lyrics by Bari Biern. Featuring conductor Victoria Gau, with Cara Schaefer, Allan Pallacios Chan, Teresa Ferrara, and Byron Jones

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A live concert in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Featuring:   Timothy Nelson, Cara Schaefer, Stanley Thurston, Teresa Ferrara, Nigel Rowe, Jarrod Lee, Brittani McNeil, Elizabeth Mondragon, Elise Christina Jenkins

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