At its heart, Hometown To The World is a simple story of hope set amongst the emotionally complicated aftermath of a 2008 Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Postville, IA––the largest ever in US history. It’s fitting, then, that host Andrea Fellows-Fineberg and her guest Chorus Master Carmen Flórez-Mansi close out this season of Key Change charting a buoyant, optimistic course towards the future. In addition to her roles as founder and director of the Choral Arts Society at St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe, she’s also music director for the Cathedral Basilica where OFAV usually holds its summer concerts, pandemics not withstanding. Carmen is an artist in her own right, a musician, singer, mother, and community activist––identities that coalesce in her work with Hometown To The World. As the production prepares for its world premiere at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in December 2021, Andrea and Carmen discuss the joys of working with the talented young adults of the chorus and reflect on their deeply personal responses to Composer Laura Kaminsky’s and Librettist Kimberly Reed’s urgent, ultimately uplifting contemporary opera.  Carmen is no stranger to OFAV’s commitment to developing new operatic works, having held the baton, or magic wand as we like to say, for 2019’s premiere of Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun, the initiative’s first-ever commission. “This was such an honor for me to be asked to be a part of this really important project. Sweet Potato…, the themes in that were about beauty and inclusion and love, and it carries over to what Hometown... is speaking about, but in a much more serious nature,” she says.  For Hometown To The World, Carmen brought together twelve singers ranging in age from 13 to 17 years of age. “I know that they're musically able to hold this together,” she says, her voice swelling with pride as she acknowledges the teens’ willingness to so freely explore raw and powerful emotions, some of which are intensely personal, about immigration that the piece so beautifully confronts. “I think that the music is very challenging. So this will challenge them and also open whole new worlds.”  Hometown To The World challenges audiences to redefine the future, offering hope through family and, of course, opera.    RELATED EPISODES Hometown to the World: Discovering "Postville" with Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed America Is Impossible Without Us: Revisiting Hometown to the World Responding to the World, Hometown to the World *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Featuring Carmen Flórez-Mansi - Chorus Master, Hometown To The World Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by Dylan Crouch   MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE This music in this episode is NOT from Hometown To The World... you'll have to catch the stage premiere in Santa Fe or stream the digital premiere from Hawaii Opera Theater to hear more. Hawaii Opera Theater The Lensic Performing Arts Center *** This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera For All Voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

Key Change

0308: Bridging Communities with Carmen Flórez-Mansi

To appreciate the life and legacy of civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer is to speak truth to power and unite in song. In June of 2021, Opera For All Voices did just that, hosting an online workshop of This Little Light Of Mine, the one-act opera commissioned by Santa Fe Opera, composed by Chandler Carter with a libretto by Diana Solomon-Glover, in collaboration with Kentucky Opera led by Barbara Lynne Jamison. No one’s better suited to take the mic than for this exploration Ms. Hamer’s lasting impact than Diana. She delivers three riveting segments beginning with Ann and Chester Grundy, community activists from Lexington, KY,  who had encounters with Fannie Lou Hamer.  When Ann Grundy offered to escort Ms. Hamer around Berea College campus for a week-long speaking engagement in 1964, little did she know the ripple effect that Ms. Hamer’s presence in her life would have.  One year later and 40 miles away, Mrs. Grundy’s soon-to-be husband Chester met Ms. Hamer at the University of Kentucky. “She asked us what are we doing?” At 18, he was unable to interpret the profound nature of that question. While he wishes he could go back in time to give a more substantive answer, Mr. Grundy knows one thing for sure. “[Fannie Lou Hamer] was a kind of, I would say, a transitional person, someone you never forget, somebody who did something that changed the kind of orbit of your life.” In the second segment, Diana speaks with Dr. Aldon Morris, the Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University, and Reverend Dr. James Forbes Jr, Senior Minister Emeritus of Riverside Church in NYC. After reading an article he wrote for Northwestern Magazine, Diana was inspired to engage Dr. Morris in conversation about the power of art, music specifically, to affect long-held mindsets about sociological issues.  “Music has just been a central component of our long struggle to be free,” he says, a galvanizing force for centuries. The act of singing itself gave Ms. Hamer the courage to defy intimidation and brutality, to be the light in times of darkness.   Rev. Forbes agrees. Music has always played a central role to worship in Black churches. Ms. Hamer instinctively understood that perseverance and truth were woven into the lyrics she sang. “You just sing about it,” Rev. Forbes says, “[and] you may be able to get away with a political critique.” The final segment features Diana, Barbara Lynne, and Andrea reflecting on the role of art and artists in a world afraid to confront the truth. Beyond portraying key events in the life of voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, This Little Light Of Mine introduces audiences to truths that may be new to them and, in the process, energize them to transform the future. “The music gave so much power to the movement and, it's very hard to describe in words, but the thing that music does to us is totally experiential,” Diana and her guests remind us. “It kind of defies language.” RELATED EPISODES: Season 2, episode 7: Mother of a Movement - introduction to the commission of This Little Light of Mine with composer Chandler Carter and librettist Diana Solomon-Glover Season 3, bonus episode: Is This America? - interview with voting and civil rights activist, LaToya Ratlieff, Fannie Lou Hamer’s grand-niece; and Diana Solomon-Glover Season 3, episode 4: Singing a Call to Action - featuring the interpretative artists and community partners of Is This America? Season 3, episode 6: Building a Better Society - featuring guest host Javier Mendoza and Florida International University students who performed a live stream of Is This America? *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Guest Host Diana Solomon-Glover Featuring: Ann & Chester Grundy - Community activists Diana Solomon-Glover - Librettist, This Little Light Of Mine, and Key Change guest host Reverend Dr. James Forbes, Jr. - Senior Minister Emeritus of The Riverside Church, NYC Dr. Aldon Morris - The Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University  Barbara Lynne Jamison - General Director, Kentucky Opera Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. NEW! Cover art by Dylan Crouch Episode Recording Engineer: Andrew Kung Photography Special thanks to Kentucky Opera   MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE This episode contains excerpts from the This Little Light of Mine workshop in collaboration with Kentucky Opera, featuring Nicole Joy Mitchell as Fannie Lou Hamer. Credits:  Composer: Chandler Carter  Librettist: Diana Solomon-Glover  Director: Beth Greenberg  Chorus master: Everett McCorvey  Music Director: Jeri Lynne Johnson  Fannie Lou Hamer: Nicole Joy Mitchell  Dorothy Jean Hamer: Aundi Marie Moore  June Johnson/SNCC Worker: Heather Hill    MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE The Reckoning Is Here - Dr. Aldon Morris, Northwestern Magazine *** This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera For All Voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

0307: Lighting a Fire: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer

When you name an initiative Opera For All Voices (OFAV), it better have the “all voices” to back that claim up!  In the first of a series of guest-hosted episodes, Andrea passes the mic to the remarkable young talents making Is This America? their own. But before she does, Andrea reminds listeners of what OFAV is all about: telling stories for our time and extending that conversation outward––to all voices. Javier Jose Mendoza, Director of Orchestral Studies at Florida International University School of Music, Miami, is joined in conversation by FIU students Angeline Fontaine, Elisha Martin, and Pedja Kovacevic, all of whom participated in the university’s full orchestral workshop of Is This America? which is based on selections from This Little Light of Mine by composer Chandler Carter and librettist Diana Solomon-Glover. One of OFAV’s earliest commissions, it’s a celebration of American civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer’s legacy.  Although new to the work and, in some cases, Ms. Hamer herself, the opera holds special meaning for these three students. Is This America? provides the soundtrack as they contemplate future roles as citizens, artists, and activists, its words and music of the past reverberating through their 21st-century lives. It’s impossible to listen as Angeline, Elisha, or Pedja discuss bringing Ms. Hamer’s story to life or the broader effect her commitment has had without being awed by their insight. It’s as Javier says, “I don't know if a person that sits through this work if they leave thinking the same way.” That’s the promise of Is This America? and the endowment of OFAV. RELATED EPISODES: Season 2, episode 7: Mother of a Movement - introduction to the commission of This Little Light of Mine with composer Chandler Carter and librettist Diana Solomon-Glover Season 3, bonus episode: Is This America? - interview with voting and civil rights activist, LaToya Ratlieff, Fannie Lou Hamer’s grand-niece; and Diana Solomon-Glover Season 3, episode 4: Singing a Call to Action - featuring the interpretative artists and community partners of Is This America? *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Guest Host Javier José Mendoza Featuring: Angeline Fontaine, Pedja Kovacevic, Elisha Martin Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. NEW! Cover art by Dylan Crouch Special thanks to Florida International University School of Music. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera For All Voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org  

0306: Building a Better Society with Florida International University Music Students

"When people talk about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that's art." ~Jeri Lynne Johnson Near the end of last year’s contentious presidential campaign, opera and activism joined forces on the deck of a moored oil tanker to ask audiences how does democracy function and for whom does it function? In the wake of that election, artists’ responsibility to speak up and out is even more vital. In this episode of Key Change, host Andrea Fellows Fineberg and Is This America? music director Jeri Lynne Johnson explore the role artists play in activism. They’ll also share memories of the whirlwind logistical maneuvers that ultimately brought the life and work of Fannie Lou Hamer to life. Jeri is no stranger to art as a means of everyday activism. As a Black woman, every time she steps up to the podium is an act of activism. She’s also an incredibly skilled and passionate interpreter of new music, qualities that made her an excellent candidate to deliver on OFAV’s mission to tell stories of our time in a bold way.  For her part, Jeri had given up on the possibility of collaborating on a live performance until at least 2021. When the opportunity arose for Is This America? she didn’t hesitate, gravitating toward an insistency to make art in any way possible. “I mean, it was almost this mandate, I think, for us to make this piece at this time,” she says.  And, what a time. The production, which juxtaposed the uncertainty of October 2020 with the emotional, often brutal events of the civil rights era, turned out to be more prescient than originally imagined. Is this America? reinforced democratic ideals through collaboration. Whether they were consciously aware of it or not, the artists on stage, the community organizing partners, and the audience formed an activist ecosystem that evening dedicated to fostering more equitable, inclusive spaces in the future.  Jeri agrees. “Art, and the ability to engage in who we are in whatever capacity that is, we are now going to be the rebuilders of society in whatever way that looks like, and I think that we, as artists, are uniquely qualified to do this.” VIEW THE FULL WORKSHOP:Is This America? ALSO MENTIONED IN EPISODE: Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination - by Robin D.G. Kelley RELATED EPISODES: Season 2, episode 7: Mother of a Movement - introduction to the commission of This Little Light of Mine with composer Chandler Carter and  librettist Diana Solomon-Glover Season 3, bonus episode: Is This America? - interview with voting and civil rights activist, LaToya Ratlieff, Fannie Lou Hamer’s grand-niece; and Diana Solomon-Glover Season 3, episode 4: Singing a Call to Action - featuring the interpretative artists and community partners of Is This America? *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Featuring: Jeri Lynne Johnson - Music Director, Is This America? Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley Special thanks to PortSide NewYork and Carolina Salguero. Is This America? was sponsored by Lynn  J. Loacker. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

0305: Making a Choice With Conviction: A Conversation with Jeri Lynne Johnson

How do artists lend their talents in support of social change when they’re literally and figuratively stifled by a global pandemic? They do as voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer did in 1964: they find a way to make their voices heard.  In this episode of Key Change, host Andrea Fellows Fineberg takes listeners on a short trip with maximum impact. Travel back to the autumn of 2020, to the final weeks of a contentious presidential campaign, to the deck of a historic oil tanker docked in New York Harbor, to the timely world premiere of Is This America? a one-of-a-kind opera event that addressed this country’s history of voter suppression while at the same time celebrating the legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer and those who stood with her. A three-scene workshop of This Little Light Of Mine, a new one-act opera by composer Chandler Carter and librettist Diana Solomon-Glover, Is This America? portrays pivotal moments in the life of Ms. Hamer dovetailed with scenes related to the Black Lives Matter protests that took place last summer. The piece is a catalyst for advancing these crucial conversations. It is the antithesis of the division that voter disenfranchisement seeks to further.  Is This America? swiftly became the imperfectly perfect OFAV storytelling vehicle with which to reinforce artistic and democratic ideals. The Mary A. Whalen - that previously mentioned 613-ton oil tanker  - with its contemplative views of the Statue Of Liberty and Freedom Tower proved the imperfectly perfect outdoor stage. This episode features conversations with the interpretive artists whose Herculean efforts took Is This America? from stoop-front inspiration to online rehearsals to a pandemic-approved performance space. Beth Greenberg, the stage director associated with both works, shares creative insights. Carolina Salguero, founder and director of PortSide NewYork, the community partner and venue provider, offers commentary on the production’s unique locale. Music director Jeri Lynne Johnson provides social context. And the emotional recollections of singers Nicole Joy Mitchell, Briana Elyse Hunter, and Heather Hill speak to an artist’s role in these tumultuous but hopeful times.  VIEW THE FULL WORKSHOP:Is This America? ALSO MENTIONED IN EPISODE: PortSide NewYork - nonprofit organization helmed by Carolina Salguero, home of the Mary A. Whalen, our performance venue for Is This America?  Winston’s Smoke BBQ in Centennial, CO  - Heather Hill’s family’s restaurant RELATED EPISODES: Season 2, episode 7: Mother of a Movement. - introduction to the commission of This Little Light of Mine with composer Chandler Carter and  librettist Diana Solomon-Glover Season 3, Bonus Episode: Is This America? - interview with voting and civil rights activist, LaToya Ratlieff, Fannie Lou Hamer’s grand-niece; and Diana Solomon-Glover *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Featuring: Beth Greenberg - Stage Director Carolina Salguero - Founder & Director, PortSide NewYork (community partner, venue provider) Jeri Lynne Johnson - Music Director Nicole Joy Mitchell - Fannie Lou Hamer Briana Elyse Hunter - Tanya, and other characters Heather Hill - June Johnson/SNCC Worker Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley This episode contains excerpts from the Is This America? workshop.  Other artists include: Michelle Cann, Pianist; Carol Szwei, Jacqueline Gregg, Jacob Terrell, Roosevelt Credit. Special thanks to PortSide NewYork and Carolina Salguero. Is This America? was sponsored by Lynn  J. Loacker. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

0304: Singing a Call To Action, Is This America?

Immigration. Racism. Religion. Some themes are ever present in our society. In this episode, Key Change host Andrea Fellows Fineberg puts the time machine through its paces, capturing the artistic evolution that brought one of the first Opera for All Voices commissions to the stage...sort of. With wrenching plot twists worthy of La Traviata and more false endings than a Beethoven symphony, this is the story of Hometown to the World created by composer Laura Kaminsky and librettist Kimberly Reed. By extension, it is a story of our time.  The opera’s artistic journey, which began in 2016, encompasses years of rewrites, workshops, name changes, and character demises - and that doesn’t even factor in the open-ended setbacks of COVID-19. But to truly understand Hometown to the World, listeners must travel back in time even further to 2008. That year, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raided a kosher meat processing plant in the small but thriving multicultural farming community of Postville, Iowa, deporting approximately 25% of the town’s residents.  This is not your grandmother’s canonical opera plot. And yet…Hometown to the World reverberates with the same tension and drama, terror and beauty. At its heart, Hometown… is a story about people learning to live together despite their differences. “People really do, for the most part, want to understand across difference and make a better world for all,” Laura says. “I have to believe that.” Immigration stories are American stories, as rich and varied as the human experience itself. Stage Director Kristine McIntyre shares her own connection, as the granddaughter of Italian immigrants. “I believe really firmly that my job, as an opera director, is to direct the music in the sense of finding what the story is inherent in what we are hearing as an audience member.”  Dramaturg Cori Ellison points out that both sides of the operatic equation - new work and standard repertory pieces - can thrive alongside each other, expanding perceptions of what art is and how we interact with each other.  Andrea steers the episode full-circle, returning listeners to 2021 and our current immigration, racism, and religion issues. Where does an opera about a decade-old ICE raid written at the onset of the most contentious political era in US history go after a global pandemic? Stay tuned. RELATED EPISODES Season 1, Episode 6 “Hometown to the World: Discovering Postville” - Interview with Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed Season 2, Episode 9 “America is Impossible Without Us” - Revisiting the work during the San Francisco Opera workshop SPECIAL OFFER Thank you to Bright Shiny Things for permission to share "Carne barata" from Hometown to the World, performed by Blythe Gaissert, in this episode. Key Change listeners receive 21% off the forthcoming release of Blythe's debut album “Home” with promo code: SFOPERA21 (all caps!) Preorder here: https://www.brightshiny.ninja/home *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Featuring Cori Ellison, Ruth Nott, Composer: Laura Kaminsky, Librettist: Kimberly Reed, Stage Stage Director: Kristine McIntyre  Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for All Voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org.

0303: Responding to the World, Hometown to the World

A hummingbird, a beatboxer, and a sweet potato walk into a theatre…  We should probably mention the bees, the dog, the squirrel, the baby pigeons, and a few woodpeckers, too. These are some of the creatures that inhabit the magical garden community of Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun, and in 2019, they lit up the stage performing opera in Santa Fe, New Mexico. But a menagerie as complex and unpredictable as this one didn’t just arrive fully formed, ready for its world premiere. Instead, Opera for All Voices’ first-ever premiere required years of lead time, months of prep work, and several changes to its artistic team.  Key Change host Andrea Fellows Fineberg fires up the time machine once again to travel behind the scenes with members of the Sweet Potato... creative crew. Andrea asks them about the artistic challenges inherent to wrangling myriad talents and viewpoints into a cohesive staged performance. Their answers reveal a shared vision that binds these creative individuals to the OFAV mission, the production, and each other. Librettist Leslie Dunton Downer discusses the risk and ultimate reward of relinquishing control to the interpretive artists on stage. Dramaturg Cori Ellison and collaborator Ruth Nott recall decisions that helped shape the show’s production team. Director John de los Santos and costume designer Ashley Soliman trade thoughts on the role ambiguity played in their designs, while offering glimpses into their working relationship.  And it’s composer Augusta Read Thomas who offers an observation that best captures Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun’s collaborative and connective genius. In an age of so much uncertainty, the production is a reminder that anything is still possible. “It’s a joyful piece. I think everybody feels it, every single character, and it jumps off the stage.” RELATED EPISODES Season 1, Episode 3 “Beatboxing and Opera: a love story” - interview with Nicole Paris and Augusta Read Thomas Season 2, Episode 1 “Press Play” - Sweet Potato’s Augusta Read Thomas and Leslie Dunton Downer on story and score development on the eve of the Chicago workshop *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Featuring Cori Ellison, Ruth Nott, Stage Director: John de los Santos, Costume Designer: Ashley Soliman, Librettist: Leslie Dunton Downer, Composer: Augusta Read Thomas  Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley Additional music in this episode composed and provided by Augusta Read Thomas, with permission from Nimbus Records. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for All Voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

0302: Interpreting Ambiguity, Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun

Key Change is back for Season 3!  Hold on… Some things have changed around here; some things have changed everywhere. What happens when a global pandemic upends your well-crafted plans? How does art respond within the confines of social distancing? Where’s Brandon?! Don’t worry, all will be revealed. To better understand where Opera for All Voices (OFAV) is headed this year, it’s helpful to reflect on where it’s been, to acknowledge achievements, and hear from the people whose talents shaped the initiative’s history. For a trip like that, we’ll need a time machine. Luckily, Andrea knows how to drive one.  In 2019, the curtain rose on the world premiere of OFAV’s first-ever commission Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun by Augusta Read Thomas and Leslie Dunton-Downer. That energetic beatboxing-infused opera amazed audience members and energized performers. Bracketed by a sampling of those excited voices, Andrea revisits OFAV’s origin story, trading insights with collaborator Ruth Nott and Cori Ellison, the production’s dramaturg. If Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun played a crucial foundational role in OFAV’s inaugural season, Hometown to the World, composed by Laura Kaminsky, libretto by Kimberly Reed, was poised to reinforce that vision the following year. 2020 messed with everyone’s momentum, but OFAV maintained belief in its mission, to tell the stories of our time and make opera for all voices. The impetus to develop relevant content and foster rich collaborations has never been more necessary. Safely socially distanced, of course. What began several years ago as the desire to introduce new audiences to the art form has since grown into a rich resource, brimming with possibility. Andrea explores that journey and this podcast’s evolution before steering the time machine triumphantly toward the future. “If this grand experiment that is OFAV has taught us anything,” she says, “it is how to move forward, even when everything goes sideways, and how to keep dreaming.” And, yes, she fills everyone in on Brandon’s exciting new endeavor.  RELATED EPISODES Season 1, Episode 2 “What’s in a name?” - the origin story of Opera for All Voices Season 1, Episode 3 “Beatboxing and Opera” - Sweet Potato’s Augusta Read Thomas and Nicole Paris on the origin story of their collaboration Season 2, Episode 1 “Press Play” - Sweet Potato’s Augusta Read Thomas and Leslie Dunton Downer on story and score development on the eve of the Chicago workshop Season 1, Episode 6 “Hometown to the World” - Hometown’s Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed on telling history and collaboration Season 2, Episode 9 “America is Impossible Without Us” - Revisiting Hometown’s story, structure, music, and what it means to be an American with Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Read during the San Francisco workshop *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Featuring Brandon Neal, Cori Ellison, Ruth Nott, and post-show feedback from Nicole Paris, Rachel de la Torre, Dawn Lura, chorus members, and audience members. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for All Voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

0301: Dreaming of Opera...

It doesn't seem that long ago, and yet... Remember when we used to gather in a theater with hundreds of other people to see a live show? Remember how that felt? The excitement? The anticipation? In this Season 3 trailer, we listen back to comments from our expectant audience recorded minutes before the world premiere of our first Opera for All Voices (OFAV) commission, Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun. That premiere was over a year ago in October of 2019 -- we had done it, the realization of a dream! Kittle did we know that in less than six months, a novel coronavirus would shutter theaters around the world ending live performances. So what now? What happens when you have to put your dream on hold? How do artists create new work? Where is our audience and how do we connect? What are the new opportunities for effective systemic, positive change that we may not have seen or been bold enough to implement without a global crisis? And what does all of this mean for Opera for All Voices -- in the microcosm of opera and in the macro of this imperative and collective need to confront and heal? Stay tuned. Key Change Season 3 starts February 2021. P.S. Go back and listen to Seasons 1 & 2 to get up to speed and meet us for this next chapter in the OFAV story. *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

Season 3 Trailer - What now?

For opera to remain vibrant, its stories must reflect a multitude of experiences, and its productions must adapt to unconventional spaces. Both characteristics were in full effect on October 10, 2020, when OFAV (Opera for All Voices), in association with Portside New York, staged a performance of Is This America? on the deck of an oil tanker docked in Brooklyn.  This workshop of an adaptation of This Little Light of Mine, by composer Chandler Carter and librettist Diana Solomon-Glover, is a celebration of American voting and civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer’s inspiring legacy.  In this episode, Andrea speaks with LaToya Ratlieff, Ms. Hamer’s grand-niece who is a voting and civil rights activist, and Diana, who transformed Hamer’s voice into this transcendent work of art. It’s a piece that connects history to current events, ancestor to descendent. In 1964, police boarded a bus in an attempt to intimidate Black citizens on their way to register to vote. In the midst of an uncomfortable silence, a lone voice broke into song. Fannie Lou Hamer’s courage bolstered the resolve of her fellow passengers that day, and strengthened a movement for generations to come. Today, LaToya shares her story of injury by police during a well-intentioned demonstration for George Floyd, but more importantly how strangers risked their own safety to come to her aid in a time of need. “I want people to understand that they stand on her head and shoulders; that before Breonna Taylor, before Sandra Bland, there was Fannie Lou Hamer. She was Black Lives Matter, and I want people to know that.” -Diana Solomon-Glover “For me, she’s a constant inspiration in a day and or that, anything can be achieved. And that we as humans, specifically us in America, that we have the ability to change lives for, not only ourselves, but for those around us.” -LaToya Ratlieff “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” -Fannie Lou Hamer *This episode contains two musical excerpts from Is This America? Additional music licensing by PodcastMusic.com.   WATCH CLIPS FROM IS THIS AMERICA?Is This America?   ALSO MENTIONED IN EPISODE:The Singing Neanderthals by Steven Mithen ***  If you are new to Key Change, go back and listen to season 2, episode 7: Mother of a Movement. It's an introduction to the commission of This Little Light of Mine with Diana and composer Chandler Carter. *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley Special thanks to PortSide NewYork and Carolina Salguero. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

BONUS: Is This America?

"There's a multi-layered contract from creator to interpreter to audience, and everybody has to actively participate to make a work come to life." ~Laura Kaminsky, composer of Hometown to the World One of the hallmarks of the Opera for All Voices commissioning process is workshopping the new operas with a team of dedicated artists and a live audience to see what's working and and what needs work.  In this stage of the development of Hometown to the World (previously known in season 1, episode 6 as Postville), Andrea traveled to San Francisco Opera for a workshop with composer Laura Kaminsky and librettist Kimberly Reed.  OFAV partners Kip Cranna and Ruth Nott joined the conversation with insights into story, structure, music, and what it means to be American, regardless of where you're from. Hometown to the World will premiere in San Francisco, CA in the fall of 2020. ***  If you are new to Key Change, season 1, episode 6 is a first introduction to Hometown to the World. *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Hosts: Andrea Fellows Walters and Brandon Neal Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley Special music licensing from PodcastMusic.com, curated by Brandon Neal. Special thanks to Uwe Willenbacher, sound engineer at San Francisco Opera for recording this interview session. OFAV Consortium Members:  Lyric Opera for Kansas City, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, San Francisco Opera, Sarasota Opera and Seattle Opera. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

0209: America Is Impossible Without Us: Revisiting Hometown to the World

"Relationships are infrastructure." ~Andrea Fellows Walters Of the 100 busiest conductors in classical music only for are female. A list of the 150 composers whose work is most often performed includes only one woman, and women comprise approximately 35% of soloists in opera. Of the 10 productions on the list of the most performed operas in 2017-2018, three are comedies and of the seven dramas, six end with a dead female protagonist. Women's bodies underwrite a staggering proportion of the action in the operatic canon. These numbers are taken from a recent panel called Times Up Opera, hosted by the Santa Fe Opera. In this episode, Andrea and Brandon explore the issues of representation, intersectionality, and content as relates to women in opera. They look at the importance of finding mentors, forming alliances with peers, and paying it forward.   Special thanks to our guests: Chelsea Dennis, production stage manager Anh Le, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Madalyn Mentor, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Susanne Sheston, conductor & chorus master Nicole Weigelt, artistic services manager Mo Zhou, stage director   And the Times Up Opera panelists: Julia Bullock, singer Chelsea Dennis Jennifer Rhodes, seminar presenter Mo Zhou   *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Hosts: Andrea Fellows Walters and Brandon Neal Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello Cover art by David Tousley Special music licensing from PodcastMusic.com, curated by Brandon Neal OFAV Consortium Members:  Lyric Opera for Kansas City, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, San Francisco Opera, Sarasota Opera and Seattle Opera. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org    

0208: Gender is Not Genre: women in opera

"There is no distinction between art and life. Art is the way we express life and life is the way we express art. " ~Diana Solomon-Glover, librettist Fannie Lou Hamer rose from humble beginnings in the Mississippi Delta to become one of the most important, passionate and powerful voices of the civil and voting rights movement. She became a leader in the efforts for greater economic opportunities for African-Americans. Brandon talks with composer Chandler Carter and librettist Diana Solomon-Glover about translating the truth of Fannie Lou Hamer's life into opera.  "If we can attach ourselves to her story, hear her voice, and kind of vicariously feel what she was feeling, I think we make a connection -- or at least of the possibility of a connection." ~Chandler Carter, composer This Little Light of Mine is slated to premiere in Fall of 2021. Special music in this episode provided with permission by Chandler Carter. *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Hosts: Andrea Fellows Walters and Brandon Neal Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello. Cover art by David Tousley Music curated by Brandon Neal with licensing from PodcastMusic.com Special thanks to The Relic Room for recording this session in New York. OFAV Consortium Members:  Lyric Opera for Kansas City, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, San Francisco Opera, Sarasota Opera and Seattle Opera. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

0207: Mother of a Movement: This Little Light of Mine inspired by the life of Fannie Lou Hamer

"Every single thing in the world is made of stories, and the story creates the moral energy of the universe where the question of right and wrong you learned from a story.  And in this period, particularly when we're living in a world so polarized and people are so extreme and so vicious in their reaction to stuff, you can't tell anyone anything. But you CAN tell them a story." ~Peter Sellars Andrea and Brandon had a rare opportunity to sit with stage director, librettist, professor Peter Sellars when he was in Santa Fe for the 2018 production of Doctor Atomic. This conversation looks deeply at the responsibility and opportunity of operatic storytelling to bring diverse communities with opposing points of view together, to talk publicly about things that cannot easily be discussed, and to shed light on the beauty of things we often miss. *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Hosts: Andrea Fellows Walters and Brandon Neal Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello Cover art by David Tousley Special music licensing from PodcastMusic.com, curated by Brandon Neal OFAV Consortium Members:  Lyric Opera for Kansas City, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, San Francisco Opera, Sarasota Opera and Seattle Opera. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

0206: The Universe is Made of Stories: A conversation with Peter Sellars

"The more we get to know one another through our stories, the closer we come together as a community, as a nation, as a world... and as you start to dissect many operas, you're really telling the story of the delicacy and strength of the human condition." ~Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez We invited some of our favorite storytellers to talk to us about the role of story in opera. They each share their unique perspectives on the big question: Why are we even bothering to tell stories? Not only that, but also how do we choose the stories we tell; what challenges do we face with diversifying the storytelling landscape; how do we better represent, attract, and reflect broader audiences; and what are the risks of creating new works in opera of creating new works? In this episode, we are honored to feature interviews with:   Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez, Storyteller, Historian, CEO and President at Creative Strategies 360° Paige Hernandez, Performer, Director, Choreographer, Playwright, and Teaching Artist Carolyn Kuan, Conductor, Music Director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra Jim Robinson, Artistic Director, Opera Theatre of St. Louis Cori Ellison, Dramaturg for the Santa Fe Opera and Opera for All Voices Judy Chicago, Visual Artist, Author, Educator Donald Woodman, Photographer *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Hosts: Andrea Fellows Walters and Brandon Neal Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello Cover art by David Tousley Special thanks to Shannon Harris for recording our sessions in Chicago Special music licensing from PodcastMusic.com, curated by Brandon Neal OFAV Consortium Members:  Lyric Opera for Kansas City, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, San Francisco Opera, Sarasota Opera and Seattle Opera. This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org

0205: The Audacity of Storytelling: bringing us from another to each other

What if we fail? What if we succeed? What if we keep imagining? These and other questions guide us through the ups and downs of a new initiative called Opera for All Voices. Join us as we explore the commission and creation of new operas and their connection to our industry, our communities, and our future. http://www.santafeopera.org

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