The Decameron Opera Coalition is the type of invention only necessity can birth. It is a living and evolving project intent on redefining how opera is produced and enjoyed.
In the late winter of 2020, when the COVID19 pandemic had shut down opera for an indefinite period of time and thrown seasons into disarray, composer Peter Hilliard and librettist Matt Boresi (The Filthy Habit, The Last American Hammer) considered the positive experiences they’d had creating new opera with small independent companies across the country, including Resonance Works [Pittsburgh], Lyric Opera of the North [Duluth], and UrbanArias [Washington DC]. What if a number of these lithe, plucky, inventive companies were to pool creativity and resources and use their combined energies, flexibility, and perspectives to create new work during the pandemic?
Hilliard, Boresi, and the Artistic Directors of those three companies sought out like-minded organizations, building new connections during a time of separation and isolation. Working out complicated production issues on a very tight timeframe, nine companies, now including Bare Opera [NYC], Opera in the Heights [Houston], Chicago Fringe Opera, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, and An Opera Theatre [Minneapolis], formed a tenth entity - the Decameron Opera Coalition - named for Boccaccio’s 14th century plague-centered opus that would form the basis for their first project.
“We are daring to think big in a time of limitations, creating a collaboration that is uniquely born of this time, but which will help opera to thrive far beyond it.”
Maria Sensi Sellner
Artistic & General Director, Resonance Works
The coalition companies reimagined Boccaccio’s collection of stories for our own pandemic times, each with a unique team of creators and artists. 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, including special guest star, internationally renowned bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni.
“An unbridled success – edgy, novel, richly detailed, musically intriguing”
HOUSTON PRESS
The DOC’s “Tales from a Safe Distance” was the recipient of a WQXR “Freddie Award”, a 360° of Opera Award for Best Collaboration, made OperaWire’s List of Industry Defining Achievements in 2020, and is now archived in the Library of Congress.
TALES FROM A SAFE DISTANCE is currently streaming in the IDAGIO Global Concert Hall.
Oh - and we’re in the library of congress.
In February 2021, the entire Decameron Opera Coalition series was inducted into the Library of Congress as part of their Performing Arts Covid-19 Response Collection. This collection includes works by nationally and internationally renowned creators to document the new work created during the pandemic.
We are honored to have Tales From A Safe Distance and the work of the 86 artists and 9 member companies of the DOC recognized and preserved in this monumental collection.
Coalition Partners
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