Seven Spells

Commissioned by Opera in the Heights
Music and Lyrics by Donia Jarrar 

A celebrity named Elena joins an online dating service in search of some fun while stringing along another man. The tabloids leak photos of her which enrages her current lover, who seeks revenge through public humiliation. The aria takes on a dark and sinister quality and hints at mental health issues brought about by public humiliation of female celebrities such as suicide, depression, and slut-shaming. In the original Decameron story, Elena is sent atop a tower where she must recite seven incantations in the blistering heat. She suffers from sunburns and bug bites, and her scorned lover hides the ladder so she can't come down, all while berating her for her actions. In this adaptation the tower is metaphorical, symbolizing the pedestal on which we put women in the spotlight and our expectations of them being perfect examples for our society’s girls and women.

 
Ep3 Seven Spells.jpeg

Episode 3: so noble a heart

Tales from a Safe Distance

Streaming In THE IDAGIO Global Concert Hall

 

Cast

Elena: Kaarin Cecilia Phelps


Creative Team

Music and Lyrics by Donia Jarrar 
Electronics, Mixing, and Mastering: Donia Jarrar 
Pianist: Laura Bleakley 
Music Supervisor: Eiki Isomura 
Recording Engineer: Daron Kirsch 
Video Director: Abbas Padilla

Donia Jarrar

She/Her

Donia Jarrar is an Arab and Muslim-American composer, pianist, and interdisciplinary artist. Born to a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother, she grew up between Kuwait City, Alexandria, Ramallah, and New York. Her personal experiences have strongly shaped her compositional voice, leading her to explore themes of intergenerational memory, trauma, identity, exile, displacement, and cultural narrative in her work. 

Jarrar was recently awarded the 2019 Discovery Grant for Female Composers from the National Opera Center of America for her work Seamstress, a documentary multimedia opera based on oral history interviews conducted with Palestinian women and girls from her community. She has been commissioned by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art and is a featured musician on the Emmy-award winning series Arab American Stories.

Jarrar holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan. She is based in Los Angeles.

Kaarin Cecilia Phelps

She/Her

Mezzo-soprano Kaarin Cecilia Phelps is making a name for herself throughout the United States. Recent performances include the alto solos in Handel's ​Messiah ​with the Houston Masterworks Chorus and Armelinde in Pauline Viardot's ​Cendrillon w​ith Operativo Houston. Kaarin made her company debut with Opera in the Heights in 2020 in ​Yeltsin in Texas.​ This fall she will join The Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra as a soloist in Beethoven's Mass in C. Her favorite roles include Isabella in ​L'Italiana in Algeri, Augusta Tabor in ​The Ballad of Baby Doe​ and Hänsel.​ ​Ms. Phelps has seen great success in the competition circuit, winning first place in both the Moores School of Music Concerto Competition and the Tuesday Musical Club of San Antonio Young Artist Competition as well as placing in many others. Kaarin holds a bachelor’s degree from the Hartt School and a master’s degree from the University of Houston.

Eiki Isomura

He/Him

Japanese-American conductor Eiki Isomura is in his fourth season as artistic director and principal conductor of Opera in the Heights (OH), where he has led over a hundred performances of twenty-five operas, drawing consistent praise for elevating the company's performance standard.

He has served on the music staff of Opera in the Ozarks, as well as HGOco, preparing and performing numerous world premieres of chamber operas for Houston Grand Opera. A passionate advocate for new music, Eiki launched OH’s' first-ever new works festival. He previously served as director of orchestral activities at Lone Star College-Montgomery and held a residency as guest music director of opera at Temple University.

Eiki holds a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Kenneth Kiesler, who also mentored him at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.