Sacajawea: Woman Of Many Names

Commissioned by Fargo-Moorhead Opera
Music by Dawn Avery
Libretto by Blake Hill-Saya

Sacajawea: Woman Of Many Names is a celebration of Sacajawea, the Lemhi Shoshone woman who was a guide, translator and crucial Corps member of Lewis and Clark's Expedition. She is a mysterious and sparsely documented figure who has captured imaginations for generations and for a myriad of reasons. This short operatic meditation on what may have been her experience was created by an all woman team, each with a strong tie to Native American ancestry and with careful guidance and ancestral prayers from a Shoshone advisor. The Shoshone language is used in the text and the model for our poster, Summer Baldwin, is Lemhi Shoshone and a descendant of Sacajawea's brother. Above all the message of this opera is to listen to the voices of our ancestors, the voice of the natural world, and those who walk a strong woman's path today, as she did so many years ago. Our human lives on this earth are deeply connected. We hope this World Premiere opera will leave you feeling that connection.

Heroes is recommended for viewers age 13 and up.
This episode contains the implication of human trafficking.

 
Photo: Danielle Thralow

Episode 2: The Long Arc

Heroes

Premiered October 1, 2021

 

Cast

Shana Blake Hill, soprano
Peter Halverson, baritone

Creative Team

Music by Dawn Avery
Libretto by Blake Hill-Saya
Creative Consultant & Voice Over: Francesca Mason Boring, Shoshone Elder

Dawn Avery

She/Her

Grammy-nominated cellist/vocalist/composer and world music artist, Dawn Avery, shares contemporary soundscapes from spiritual, pop and classical elements that reflect a deep devotion to sacred traditions, including her own Mohawk heritage. Composer, educator and GRAMMY nominated performer, she has worked with musical luminaries Luciano Pavarotti, Sting, John Cale, R. Carlos Nakai, Phillip Glass, Charles Wuorinen, Elliott Sharpe, and Ornette Coleman. She writes in a variety of styles from mystic world pop to classical, often fusing styles. She has collected awards from American Dance Festival at Duke University, Smithsonian, and the Ford Foundation's Indigenous Knowledge, Expressive Culture grant program of the American Composers Forum, and Meet the Composer. Her music has been featured in award winning films Miramax Basquiat, Smithsonian Always Becoming, PBS The Warrior Tradition. Avery also composes for theatre with Spiderwoman Theatre in NYC, the Alliance for New Music-Theatre in Washington DC and Heather Henson’s (of the Jim Henson legacy) production of Ajijaak on Turtle Island. The latter Indigenous based project led to a short run at the New Victory Theatre on Broadway for which she wrote music with an almost all Indigenous team for an environmental theatrical work. She has won numerous Global Music Awards for multi-media projects 50 Shades of Red, Beloved, Crane on Earth and Sky. www.dawnavery.com

Shana Blake Hill

She/Her

Soprano Shana Blake Hill is known for being a multi-dimensional artist and for creating and premiering new roles, operas, and contemporary works. Hill has sung principal roles with: The Los Angeles Opera, Savonlinna Festival Opera (Finland), Dayton Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Long Beach Opera, Santa Barbara Opera, and Opera Southwest. She has been a featured soloist with: The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, The Seattle Symphony, The Pacific Symphony, The Naples Philharmonic, The Pasadena Symphony, The Louisville Orchestra, and The Colorado Symphony. Hill is a Naxos and Sony recording artist, and is featured on Sony's Favorite Film Score Compilation.

Her most recent world premiere performance was as Angela in Adam Del Monte's Flamenco Opera Llantos 1492 with the Tucson Desert Festival of Song. Her performance as Ghita in Zemlinky's Der Zwerg at the Theater at Ace Hotel in DTLA was critically acclaimed and her performance of the title role in Carlisle Floyd's Susannah with Festival Opera in 2019 won her third place in the "Best Opera Singer" category in San Francisco Classical Voice's "Best of the Bay" awards, the production won "Best New Discovery". Hill finished 2019 with Numi Opera as Laura in Korngold's Der Ring Des Polycrates, a production that garnered her rave reviews in the international and Los Angeles press. Recent engagements and projects include A Veterans Voices World Premier collaboration with LA Opera, a series of online concerts with LA Opera for the faculty, staff and patients of USC Keck Medical Center, An online concert for The Clazzical Notes series in honor of Suffragists and Women who vote, and an online concert with LA Opera in celebration of Black History month in which she was commissioned to write and deliver a spoken word poem entitled "Lifting Voices". Hill is also thrilled to return to FMO as writer/ performer for the commissioned libretto for Sacajawea: Woman of Many Names and in the role of Mother Nature/Sacajawea. She has fond memories of appearing as Sacajawea with the FMO World Premier Production of Corps of Discovery by Michael Ching. Hill is descended from Waccamaw Siouan ancestry who have been historically recorded in Columbus County, NC since at least the 16th Century.

Blake Hill-Saya

She/Her

Librettist Blake Hill-Saya began her love affair with books at age four when her Father found her reading a favorite bedtime story out loud and upside down. Her love of history, research, music, world cultures and storytelling led her to a nearly twenty year career as a professional operatic soprano, she sings under her maiden name Shana Blake Hill. Hill-Saya recently founded Tenacity Communications to amplify her work as a lifelong wordsmith. She now writes for and consults with an international clientele of executives and thought leaders on storytelling, verbal branding, corporate voice and mission and keynote development. Hill-Saya made her debut as published author in 2020 with The University of North Carolina Press and a historical biography of her own great great grandfather entitled: Aaron McDuffie Moore: An African American Physician, Educator and Founder of Durham's Black Wall Street . The biography has been critically acclaimed and was chosen as an official candidate for the Museum of African American History Stone Awards for 2021. Her work appeared twice in the Historic Merrick Washington Magazine in 2020/2021 and she was featured as the cover article for RAL Magazine from Duke University in Summer 2021. Hill-Saya was commissioned by LA Opera Connects to write and deliver a poem for their Black History Month 2021 celebration which she entitled "Lifting Voices". She is also developing several manuscripts, fiction and non fiction, all grounded in Black life during the reconstruction era. She is a proud descendent of Waccamaw Siouan ancestors who have been rooted in Columbus County, NC since the 16th Century, likely earlier.

Peter Halverson

He/Him

Baritone Peter Halverson has enjoyed a long and successful career having performed over seventy roles in opera, operetta, musical theater & oratorio. He has sung throughout the United States including performances at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Pittsburgh Opera, Utah Opera, Madison Opera, Dallas Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Oregon Bach Festival, San Luis Obispo Mozaic Festival and Crested Butte Summer Festival. He has also appeared numerous times with the Minnesota Opera, Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Skylark Opera, Minnesota Chorale, VocalEssence, Fargo-Moorhead Opera and the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony. In the spring of 2005, he won the Yrjö Kilpinen International Art Song Competition and was invited to give a recital tour in Finland.

Origin Story

The DOC’s Peter Hilliard chats with composer Dawn Avery, librettist Blake Hill-Saya, and Fargo-Moorhead Opera General Director David Hamilton about the creation of “Sacajawea: Woman of Many Names”