Archived in the Library of Congress
Named an Industry-Defining Moment of the Year by OperaWire
Winner of a 2020 “Freddie” (Excellence in Opera Award) from Fred Plotkin & WQXR New York Public Radio
Winner of ‘Best Collaboration’ from 360° of Opera®
Tales from a Safe Distance Previews
“ingenious project”
Wall Street Journal
“an unbridled success – edgy, novel, richly detailed, musically intriguing”
Houston Press
“The Decameron project does genuinely new things with opera, and has lessons to teach the industry that may well outlast the grim pandemic which spawned it.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune
10 creative teams. 9 companies from across the U.S.A. 4 electric episodes of new opera.
Ten friends last saw one another on a starlit rooftop in Florence. Now, their only way to share a toast is via a video call from their pandemic lockdown locations. How to pass the time when no one has new developments to share? Make up stories! But will they inspire one another to overcome their COVID-era ennui?
Tales from a Safe Distance is a 21st century operatic adaptation of Boccaccio’s 14th century novel The Decameron, in an unprecedented co-creation from the newly formed Decameron Opera Coalition, of which Resonance Works is a co-founder and Lead Producer. These nine indie opera companies from across the U.S. reimagined Boccaccio’s stories for our own pandemic times, each with a unique team of creators and artists. The idea originated with the composer-librettist team of Peter Hilliard and Matt Boresi, who together created the tenth wraparound story, “The Happy Hour”, featuring one character-storyteller from each of the other 9 tales, and a special guest star, the world renowned bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni. The result was an unprecedented operatic co-creation - a new opera, straight to film, that is an anthology of 10 world premieres written by 10 creative teams, and engaging a total of 86 artists from around the world!
Tales premiered in four episodes in October 2020 and ran through December 31, streaming to an audience on 6 continents, in 17 countries, and 43 states and territories. In 2021, the DOC launched a new partnership with IDAGIO, the leading streaming app for classical music, where Tales from a Safe Distance was remounted and is currently streaming in the Global Concert Hall for audiences to enjoy in 160 countries worldwide, running through December 31, 2021.
One $15 ticket gives you access to all of the “Tales” and we hope you will watch every episode to see the great and diverse work from each of our partner companies and their creative teams!
Resonance Works’ chapter:
“Sourdough: Rise Up”
In Tales Episode 4: The Bolts of Fortune
Gilda Lyons, Composer & Librettist
Chris Lyons, Illustrator
Featuring:
Joanna Latini as Shazam
Tess Altiveros as Rockstar
Brittany Renee as Boss
James Lesniak, piano
Sandro Leal-Santiesteban, violin
Jesica Sharp Crewe, double bass
Maria Sensi Sellner, conductor & producer
Kristian Tchetchko, recording engineer
Everyday life in the spring of COVID-19 is refracted through a graphic-novel lens as three friends—Shazam, Rockstar, and Boss—wrestle with the changing world around them and their place in it. Linked by a shared sourdough starter, these normal-person superheroes consider their fears and the small, ordinary acts of courage that define them. Together, they reach toward hope, celebrating resilience, change, honesty, and the boundless possibility of freshly baked deliciousness.
Sourdough Team:
GILDA LYONS, composer, vocalist, and visual artist, combines elements of renaissance, neo-baroque, spectral, folk, agitprop Music Theater, and extended vocalism to create works of uncompromising emotional honesty and melodic beauty. A fierce advocate of contemporary music, Lyons has commissioned, premiered, and workshopped new vocal works by dozens of composers. Her works and performances are available on the Clarion, GPR, Naxos, New Dynamic, New Focus, and Roven Records labels. Lyons’ vocal collaboration with Laura Ward (Lyric Fest/Naxos) was described by Opera News as “winning delivery, full of character.” “Gilda Lyons's clear soprano compels admiration” writes David Shengold of Opera, UK of her performance in Hagen’s “Shining Brow” (Buffalo Philharmonic/Falletta/Naxos). Recent recording projects as composer include the release of Lyons’ works by Quince (Motherland); and entelechron (The Folk Tune Project); Lindsey Goodman's tour de force performance of Lyons' Chrysalis (reach through the sky); and Sing for Hope’s release of Lyons' Hold On (An AIDS Quilt Songbook). Lyons currently serves as Co-Chair of the Composition Program at Wintergreen Summer Music Academy and as Assistant Professor of Composition at The Hartt School. She is Artistic and Executive Director of The Phoenix Concerts, New York's "intrepid Upper West Side new-music series" (The New Yorker), and serves on the Board of Advisors of Composers Now, the Steven R. Gerber Trust, and Sparks & Wiry Cries. Lyons served as Composer-in-Residence of Chautauqua Opera in the 2019 season. In 2020, she returns as composition faculty for Connecticut Summerfest. Lyons’ music is published by Schott, E.C. Schirmer, and Burning Sled. www.gildalyons.com
CHRIS LYONS
Growing up with parents who were artists, Chris Lyons was always surrounded by art, music, and “creative magic.” His artistic childhood inspired him to study communication design and illustration at the University of Buffalo, where he graduated with a B.F.A. in Illustration and Design in 1981.
Lyons gained his first professional experience as an intern for iconic graphic designer Milton Glaser in New York City. From there he launched a career in freelance design and illustration, working with clients such as The United States Postal Service, Pentagram, The U.S. Open Tennis Championships, Trader Joe's, The Smithsonian, Sports Illustrated, TIME, Target, and The New York Times. He describes his artistic style as “idealized and optimistic, with a slightly painterly feel to it.”
Lyons loves teaching and is an adjunct professor in the Schools of Graphic Design and Industrial Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology. In his spare time, Lyons shovels snow, skates on the Erie Canal, and plays pick-up basketball, which fuels his competitive spirit. He lives in Rochester, NY with his wife Anne and their 2 interesting cats, Indy and Skinny.
Soprano Joanna Latini, a New Jersey native, is quickly making a name for herself for her informed and passionate performances. Opera News hailed Ms. Latini “a generous performer [with] winning personality and a sound both luscious and supple, exuding charm[.]” Her professional experience ranges from Baroque to contemporary new works and musical theatre. In 2018, she was named a National Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
The 2019-2020 season brought numerous company and role debuts for Ms. Latini beginning with her Canadian debut as Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème with Calgary Opera. She returned to the concert stage in her debut with Ars Lyrica Houston for their “Handel in Love” program, and then reprised the role of Rosina in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles for her European debut at the Château de Versailles Spectacles in France. In the spring, Ms. Latini debuted Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore with Permian Basin Opera. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her performance in Mozart’s Requiem with Rapides Symphony Orchestra, debut as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Resonance Works Pittsburgh, debut with the Berkshire Opera Festival as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni were all cancelled.
Beginning in the fall of 2020, Ms. Latini will be a First Year Resident Artist with the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
Highlights of past seasons include covering Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata at Palm Beach Opera and The Glimmerglass Festival, covering the Adelaide/ Helen/ Miss Thompson in Ricky Ian Gordon’s world premiere The House without a Christmas Tree with Houston Grand Opera, and performing the title role in Janácek’s The Cunning Little Vixen with the Glimmerglass Festival.
Noted for her “particularly soulful” (L.A. Times) interpretations and a "captivating combination of skilled singing and magnetic acting" (Pioneer Press), soprano Tess Altiveros is equally at home in a wide range of repertoire from the 17th century to the 21st. Her recent portrayal of Female Soldier in Seattle Opera’s The Falling and the Rising was described as “a triumph” (Classical Voice North America) and “enthralling” (Seattle Times), while Opera Magazine described her voice in Pacific MusicWorks’s “Leading Ladies” as “...darker, creamy, sensuous, but she can fill it with so much drama that the stereotyped tropes of a Baroque lament offers a fully rounded portrait of a woman’s pain...sprezzatura personified.”
Other roles include Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro (Kentucky Opera), E in Seattle Opera’s O + E, Clorinda in Seattle Opera's The Combat, Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte (Skylark Opera Theatre), L'enfant in L'Enfant et les Sortilèges (Pacific Symphony), Dalila in Handel’s Samson (Pacific MusicWorks), Hannah in The Merry Widow (Inland Northwest Opera), Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (Pacific Symphony), Maria in West Side Story (Central City Opera/Boulder Philharmonic), Bach St. Matthew Passion (Colorado Symphony, staged), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (Juneau Lyric Opera), Musetta in La Bohème (Colorado Symphony), Carmen in La Tragédie de Carmen (Skylark Opera Theatre), Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro (Angels & Demons Entertainment), Miss Jessel in Turn of the Screw (Eugene Opera).
Upcoming season highlights include Female Soldier in The Falling and the Rising (Opera on the James), Gianetta in L’Elisir d’Amore (Seattle Opera) Mozart C Minor Mass (Seattle Pro Musica), Wayward Sisters (Pacific MusicWorks), and Rodas Recordada (Music of Remembrance).
A native Seattleite, Ms. Altiveros has been a regular anthem singer for the Seattle Mariners for over a decade.
Hailed by the South Florida Classical for her “luminous tones” and “lush voice,” Metropolitan Opera soprano Brittany Renee amazes audiences with her finesse and shimmering stage presence. This past season Brittany traveled to Turin, Italy to reprise the role of Bess in Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess at the Teatro Regio Torino and at the Magnetic Opera Festival in Elba, Italy. She was also honored to join the 2019-2020 season as a company member/featured soloist at The Metropolitan Opera in their historic production of Porgy & Bess. She returned to Opera Orlando to debut the role of the Countess in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and to Lincoln Center at David Geffen Hall in New York City as the Soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah.
Brittany Renee’s international debuts have included performances at the Semperoper Dresden, the Deutsches Theater München, The Charles Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv, Israel, the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy, and Opera on the Avalon in Canada. National appearances have included Opera San Jose, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Theatre of the Rockies, Knoxville Opera, The Handel Choir of Baltimore, Guelph Symphony Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Salt Marsh Opera, Piedmont Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Crested Butte Music Festival, Light Opera of New York, Sounds of South Dakota, and the Baltimore Municipal Opera. Prestigious awards include, Senior Grand Prize Winner: Young Patronesses of the Opera & Regional Finalist: The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Cuban-born violinist Sandro Leal-Santiesteban made his professional debut at age thirteen as a member of the Grand Theatre of Havana’s Orchestra, conducted by his mother Lourdes Santiesteban. An alumnus of the Sphinx Competition, Sandro has toured numerous U.S. cities with the Sphinx Virtuosi, including Carnegie Hall in New York City. He is a two-time winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society: both as soloist, and as a member of the Beo String Quartet. During his time in Beo, Sandro participated in residencies, recording projects, and performances including the Dakota Chamber Music, Virginia Tech University, the Charleston Ballet in WV, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the Charlotte New Music Festival, and the Franz Schubert and Modern Music festival in Graz, Austria. Sandro has worked with such conductors and artists as Claudio Abbado, Kent Nagano, Josh Groban, Evanescence, and Bruce Springsteen. He currently holds the concertmaster position for the Resonance Works | Pittsburgh Chamber Orchestra and the associate concertmaster position in the Erie Philharmonic.
Jesica Sharp Crewe plays with the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, and she has enjoyed playing with Resonance Works Pittsburgh since 2014. She traveled from her hometown of Sebastopol, CA to New York for an undergraduate degree at Juilliard, and then to Pittsburgh to get her master’s degree and performance residency certificate from Carnegie Mellon University. She started her musical studies on flute at the age of 8 and then took up bass at the age of 13. Many people have spontaneously asked her the same question when they see her transporting her bass: “Don’t you wish you played the flute?” She doesn’t. Though sometimes she wishes she played the viola. This September, she began a three-year training course to become a teacher in the Alexander Technique.
A native of Kenosha, Wisconsin, James Lesniak joined the Pittsburgh Opera music staff in 2006. He has served on the coaching staff of the Brevard Music Center, Glimmerglass Opera, Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, and the National Symphony, and has been an official pianist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He made his conducting debut in 2017 with Pittsburgh Opera’s production of Laura Kaminsky’s As One and more recently conducted their production of Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied. For the summer months, he frequently returns to the music staff of the Santa Fe Opera, where he has served as Musical Director for their Winter Concert Tour and was on the music staff for the Grammy Award winning production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Indiana University, and was an apprentice with the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera for two seasons.
Clarinetist Kira Bokalders maintains a dynamic music career having played with some of the region’s finest ensembles, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Erie Philharmonic, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Wheeling Symphony, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and Pittsburgh Opera. Always looking to push boundaries with eclectic and creative engagements, Kira has performed in a number of progressive, immersive stage productions including Candide and Ainadamar with Quantum Theatre, several productions of Bricolage's Midnight Radio, and On the Town and Rusalka with Resonance Works. She is also a member of the Allegheny City Ragtime Orchestra with acclaimed jazz pianist Tom Roberts.