Breathing free
Heartbeat Opera’s
BREATHING FREE, a visual album
featuring excerpts from Beethoven’s Fidelio, Negro spirituals, and works by Harry T. Burleigh, Florence Price, Langston Hughes, Anthony Davis, and Thulani Davis
2021 DRAMA LEAGUE AWARD NOMINEE for OUTSTANDING DIGITAL CONCERT PRODUCTION (info here)
originally presented December 4-12, 2020, along with six live panel discussions
since streamed at The Broad Stage and Mondavi Center
Ethan Heard (Director), Anaiis Cisco (Filmmaker), Ras Dia (Creative Producer), Jacob Ashworth & Daniel Schlosberg (Co-Music Directors), Emma Jaster (Movement Director), Daniel Schlosberg & Sean Mays (New Arrangements)
Los Angeles: Kathryn Boyd Batstone (Director of Photography), Celine Layous (First AC/Gaffer)
New York & Chicago: Jacob Mallin (Director of Photography), Matt Iacono (First AC/Gaffer)
Sage Velastegui (Colorist), Sean Mayes (Associate Music Director), Tamrin Goldberg (Associate Movement Director), Mar Cox (Assistant Director), Jessica Emmanus (Stage Manager), Gleb Kanasevich (Sound Editor), Sam Torres (Sound Mixer), Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh (Music Assistant & Orchestra Manager), Max Silverman (Live Switcher & Technical Director), Nicholas Betson (English Translations for Fidelio), Kathy Wittman (Film Editor of Prisoners Chorus), Kate Marvin (Original Sound Editing of Prisoners Chorus), Ethan Heard (Cinematographer for Prisoners Chorus), Becca Schall (Hope Thru Harmony Videographer), Ashley Renée Watkins (Director of Education), Anthony McGlaun (Repertoire Consultant)
Vocalists: Derrell Acon, Curtis Bannister, Kelly Griffin
Dancers: Randy Castillo, Tamrin Goldberg, Brian HallowDreamz Henry
Also featuring the voices of more than 100 incarcerated singers and 70 volunteers from six prison choirs: Oakdale Community Choir, KUJI Men’s Chorus, UBUNTU Men’s Chorus, HOPE Thru Harmony Women’s Choir, East Hill Singers, and Voices of Hope
Band: Daniel Schlosberg (Piano & Conductor - Beethoven), Jacob Ashworth (Violin & Conductor - Davis), Marika Hughes (Cello), Kyra Sims (Horn), Britton-René Collins (Percussion), Miki Sasaki (Trumpets), Thomas Flippin (Guitars), Jason Thomas (Piano - solo)
Digital program and libretto here.
Press
Portrait of Michael Powell by Shikeith for The New Yorker, December 2020
“Stirring.” -The Washington Post
“Grippingly produced. The harrowing climax includes footage from a performance of Beethoven’s extraordinary Prisoners Chorus sung by actual inmates at prisons across the country. ‘O Freedom,’ they sing, ‘when will you return?’ And the music holds open a space for its arrival.” -The Boston Globe
“Bracing, compelling, and heartbreaking. An artwork that strikes a resonant chord for these hard times. That is an achievement worth celebrating.” -Musical America
“Gloriously moving and exquisitely produced, Heartbeat Opera has created theater to last the ages. Justice and equality are hard to come by but “Breathing Free” allows us to wonder if it’s possible. [An] intense work of shimmering beauty.” -LA Dance Chronicle
“Magnificent and vivacious.” -Broadway World
AUDIENCE RESPONSE
“Beautifully done and very moving. The music, the dance, the visuals, the choirs, the heartache, the transcendence!” -Phylicia Rashad, Actor
“Powerful, graceful, and captivating.” -Phillip Boykin, Bass-Baritone
“This is the most robust and radical conversation on reparations and mass incarceration within the arts context. Stunning panel.” -Suchi Branfman, Choreographer, Performer, Curator, Dancing Through Prison Walls
“I was bowled over. I am recommending this to everyone I know.” -Rufus Muller, Tenor
“Spectacularly conceived and produced. I don’t know if there’s another company - in particular, an opera company - that’s doing ANYTHING like this.” -Mel Marvin, Composer
Director’s NOTE
Breathing Free began with a series of questions: How do we make opera that sings and embodies “Black Lives Matter”? What if we collaged works by Black composers and lyricists with excerpts from Fidelio and called it a virtual-theatrical song cycle? Or, even better, a visual album? How do we meld opera-making and film-making? And during a pandemic? What if there were panel discussions?
Breathing Free has blossomed out of tough questions and challenging times. A devoted team of more than 30 artists has come together to ask these questions of each other, of our history, of our art forms, and about our future. We have wrestled with Zoom, recorded in closets, waited in line for COVID tests…and we have drawn nourishment and purpose from a shared mission: to uplift Black artists and to celebrate opera during dark times.
Creating this work over the past two months has been humbling. Making music and building trust are challenging projects when you’re collaborating on Zoom. Not to mention during a pandemic and a frightening election. But this community of artists kept showing up, kept digging deep, kept striving for beauty and truth.
Breathing Free is our protest. It is the imperfect and often painful work of taking anti-racist action. It is our artistic fight for survival. And it is an offering — a gift — for you. We share this virtual experiment with love and with hope that you will find inspiration in these songs, this film, these questions and conversations. The work continues.