both gladsome & grievous
episode 1
Tales from a Safe Distance, 2020
Searching for a glimmer of socialization via a virtual reunion call, ten friends share their pandemic experiences with a winsome Italian host in “The Happy Hour”. When you’re locking yourself away from a rampaging pandemic, absurd circumstances and grim possibilities cohabitate closely. From Bayes’ whimsically macabre tale of roommate friction in “Everything Comes to a Head” to Tamara’s haunting story of pandemics past and pandemics present in “The Late Walk”, complex times meet complex tones.
The Happy Hour
by Peter Hilliard and Matt Boresi
Commissioned by the Decameron Opera Coalition
Based on the ten narrators of Bocaccio’s Decameron, The Happy Hour features internationally renowned bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, and characters from each of this opera’s tales.
Everything Comes to a Head
by Rachel J. Peters, Margi Preus, and Jean Sramek
Inspired by The Decameron Day 4, Story 5 “Filomena’s Story”
Commissioned by Lyric Opera of the North - Duluth, Minnesota
Where is Basil, Rosemary’s boyfriend? He made like a tree and leaved. He made like a banana and peeled. He made like a bush and burned. He made like a pandemic committee meeting and Zoomed. Rosemary is worried their love has gone dormant (was it the lack of spice in their relationship?) but she’s staying planted in her tiny apartment. Her roommates, on the other hand, think Rosemary doesn’t need to cultivate that kind of baggage. Basil was deadwood! Everything Comes to a Head gives us some sage advice: if the roots of love are deep enough, it doesn’t matter if you’re in mint condition.
the late walk
by Jasmine Barnes and Nikolaus Hochstein Cox
Inspired by The Decameron Day 5, Story 8
Commissioned by Bare Opera - New York, New York
During a pandemic nothing is a walk in the park. For modern lovers Tamara and Natalie, a night out in the fresh air takes a turn for the uncanny when they meet an older couple very much like them. There’s only one problem: these other park-goers are dead. The Late Walk is romance, science fiction and horror set against the backdrop of a global pandemic and asks, in the fashion that only opera can, what can all the best intentions and most human passions do in the face of an omnipotent and callous virus?