corsair

Commissioned by Chicago Fringe Opera
Music and text by K.F. Jacques 

You have everything you need. Then you double it. Then you lose it all. How do you get it back? Where do you end up? “Corsair” is one man’s journey from greed to humility, from isolation to community, all told through the epic form of hip-hopera.

 
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Episode 4: So Noble a Heart

Tales from a Safe Distance

Streaming In THE IDAGIO Global Concert Hall

 

Cast

Man: K.F. Jacques
Woman: Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas

Creative Team

Producer & Director: George Cederquist
Director of Photography: Rick Schuler 
Production Designer & Visual Dramaturgy: Brad Caleb Lee
Music Supervisor: Catherine O’Shaughnessy

K. F. Jacques

He/Him

K. F. Jacques [pronounced k. f. Żak] is a classical singer and hip hop producer. He has been featured on the Rosie Show (Oprah Winfrey Network), various Polish Television and radio networks, and has toured the US, Poland, and several other countries! Currently he is the head composer of, and plays the role of Figaro in, “The Rosina Project”, a hip-hopera version of The Barber of Seville with a cast of talented rappers, dancers, a beatboxer, dj, and singers. The Rosina Project was recently included in The Pivot Arts Festival two years in a row, featured on ABC 7 News, Chicago SunTimes, and The Chicago Tribune, and was also featured in a citywide summer tour of Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks. Shortly after completing his Masters in opera performance, bass-baritone Khary Laurent took to producing his own material and creating a brand-new genre on the forefront of hip-hop and opera music under the pseudonym K. F. Jacques. Mr. Laurent has advanced from a chauffeur day job to captivating audiences worldwide with his exceptional fusion of rap, opera, and pop; dubbed OperaTronic. He's performed multiple times as a headliner at House of Blues Chicago, and has performed his classic solo rendition of the national anthem at United Center, U. S. Cellular Field, and Soldier Field.

Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas

She/Her

Singer and actress, Mrs. Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas, is being praised by critics worldwide for her visually, and vocally, compelling performances. Select stage and screen credits include Random Acts of Flyness (HBO), The Verdian Voice (ARTE), Spicks and Specks (ABC TV), Intimate Apparel (Lincoln Center Theater), Tosca (Opera Australia, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dallas Opera, Colorado Symphony), La bohème (Metropolitan Opera of NY, Opera Australia, Deutsche Oper Berlin), Madama Butterfly (Deutsche Oper Berlin, Slovenian National Theatre), Cassandra / Elektra (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Mefistofele (Opera Montpellier), Marie Victoire (Deutsche Oper Berlin), La forza del destino (Caramoor Music Festival), Il trovatore (Oper Stuttgart, National Theatre Tokyo), Norma (Opera North UK), L'isola disabitata (Gotham Chamber Opera), Bluebeard's Castle (Oper Köln), Othello and Macbeth (Altamura Center for the Arts). A versatile Classical, Jazz, Soul, and Pop Vocal Soloist, she has also appeared with Yo-Yo Ma and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Philadelphia Orchestra, Kimmel Center, African American Museum of Philadelphia, Winspear Opera House, Fort Worth Opera & Symphony, Dallas Arts District Tuesday Nite Jazz, Aspen Music Festival, Palm Beach Opera Orchestra, Knoxville Museum of Art, France Musique, MIDEM Festival, Palais des Festivals Cannes, and Broadway In Chicago, including nominations for Germany’s Opernwelt Award for “Female Singer of the Year. With a strong belief in education, creation, and community as evidenced by her recent partnerships with Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas as the first Vocal Artist In-Residence, and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as the Inaugural Purpose Over Pain Artist, Arranger, and Producer. A performer since the age of two, the Chicago native and alumnae of the lauded University of North Texas and Philadelphia’s storied Academy of Vocal Arts counts music legends McKinley “Muddy Waters” Morganfield and Tina Turner among her relations.

Catherine O’Shaughnessy

She/Her

Catherine O’Shaughnessy is a rising orchestral and opera conductor in the United States and abroad. Her performances have earned rave reviews from the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Classical Review (“great skill, alertness, and sensitivity”), and Vocal Arts Chicago (“resourcefulness…scrappiness and...fierce concentration”). Avidly committed to Chicago’s dynamic opera scene, she is currently the music director of Chicago Fringe Opera—the city's “alt-opera company” (John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune). Fringe brings to life recent English-language works in immersive, site-specific, and experiential settings; featured composers have included Missy Mazzoli, Philip Glass, and William Bolcom. Catherine has also led with several other area companies, including The Floating Opera Company and Opera On Tap.

Brad Caleb Lee

He/Him

Brad Caleb Lee is an Alabama native now residing in Cardiff, Wales. He is an international award-winning designer and assistant director whose collaborators, among others, include Chicago Fringe Opera, Filament Theatre, Summer Theatre of New Canaan, Prague Shakespeare Company, Bros do Prose, Hell In A Handbag, Theatre Tuscaloosa, Music Theatre Wales, ELANFrontoio, The Victoria & Albert Museum, and Welsh National Opera, with work included in World Stage Design and The Prague Quadrennial. Brad has edited a number of publications on scenography and performance design with the Czech Theatre Institute, is the founding editor of Ascending, a digital publication dedicated to the work of emerging designers, and was the programs coordinator (curatorial producer) for PQ 2019. He holds an MA w/Merit from The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and both an honors BA & BS from The University of Alabama. He is a member of Scene/Change, OISTAT, USITT, and SBTD

 

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