The Sky Where You Are
Premiered Friday, October 23 at 7PM CST in Episode 3, So Noble a Heart
AOT’s chapter contribution to Tales from a Safe Distance, by the Decameron Opera Coalition.
Composed by Maria Thompson Corley
Libretto by Jenny O’Connell
The production will be presented in English with English subtitles.
Reyna (Katherine Henly, soprano), has locked herself in her bathroom in order to contact her childhood friend, Jo (Anna Hashizume, mezzo). Reyna reveals to Jo for the first time that her husband (Justin Anthony Spenner, baritone) has been emotionally abusive for years, and now, in the seclusion of quarantine, his abuse has turned physical. Reyna has decided to take the necessary steps to try and leave her abuser for a third time. With her husband becoming suspicious of the running shower, help, answers, and a plan are needed. Time is of the essence.
IN JULY 2020, AN OPERA THEATRE JOINED 8 OTHER OPERA COMPANIES IN FORMING THE DECAMERON OPERA COALITION.
10 creative teams. 9 companies from across the United States. 4 electric nights of new opera.
Boccaccio’s 14th century masterpiece “The Decameron” featured ten characters passing the time while sheltering from a plague by telling one another stories – stories comic, tragic, romantic, sexy, terrifying. The Decameron Opera Coalition has adapted those stories for the modern pandemic era.
Tales from a Safe Distance features nine World Premiere one-act operas, and a tenth wrap-around story starring internationally renowned bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, for the month of October.
The Sky Where You Are was conceived in collaboration with MN organization Women’s Advocates, the first shelter in the nation for women and their children escaping domestic violence. This opera calls awareness to women in domestic violence relationships now trapped at home with their abusers during the COVID-19 quarantine and explores what to do when you are called upon to provide aid and support as a friend or family member in a domestic abuse situation.
In February 2021, the entire Decameron Opera Coalition series was inducted into the Library of Congress as part of their Performing Arts Covid-19 Response Collection. This collection includes works by nationally and internationally renowned creators to document the new work created during the pandemic.
We are honored to have our opera and the work of the 86 artists and 9 member companies of the DOC recognized and preserved in this monumental collection.
Viewer Statement Warning:
This production discusses the experience and impact of relationship violence. Relationship violence is commonly experienced and some of the content may bring up some distressing memories or thoughts for some viewers.
Featuring
Creative Team
Reyna: Katherine Henly
Jo: Anna Hashizume
Reyna’s Husband: Justin Anthony Spenner
Piano: Maria Thompson Corley
Violinist: Elise Parker
Composer: Maria Thompson Corely
Librettist: Jenny O’Connell
Director: Sequoia Hauck
Audio Director: Chris Foss
Producer: Kelly M Turpin
Artist Bios
Maria Thompson Corley
Maria Thompson Corley (she/her), an international solo and collaborative pianist, began composing and arranging as a child. Her works have been commissioned by choirs, opera companies, and soloists from across the country. Her arrangement of Mary had a Baby was published by Walton, and her song cycle, For Terry, is published by Classical Vocal Reprints. Her art songs and arrangements have been performed, recorded and/or taught in the United States and abroad.
Aside from being an accomplished pianist, Maria Corley is a voice actor who has done spots for Santander, University of Pennsylvania, Unisys, Suntrust and others, a poet, and an author.
Anna Hashizume
Anna (she/her) is thrilled to be working with AOT for the first time! Previous credits include: Artistry Theater: Mary Poppins; Theatre Elision: Of Art and Artists; Lyric Arts: Sense and Sensibility; Collective Unconscious Performance: Into the Darkness; Mixed Precipitation: The Clemency of Tito’s Tennis Club, Dr. Falstaff and the Working Wives of Lake County, Philemon and Baucis: Planet in Peril; Minnesota Opera: La Traviata, Thaïs; Fargo- Moorhead Opera: Speed Dating, Tonight!; Lyric Opera of the North: Rigoletto.
In 2017, she was a Schubert Club Competition Winner. Anna hosts a podcast called Thank You Places which can be found on most streaming platforms.
Sequoia Hauck
Sequoia Hauck (she/they) (Anishinaabe/Hupa) is a graduate from the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities with a B.A. in American Indian Studies. She is a multidisciplinary artist in the Twin Cities focused on creating theater, film, poetry, and performance art that decolonizes the process of art-making. She makes art surrounding the narratives of continuation and resiliency among her communities.
Sequoia enjoys dabbling in many aspects of performance/theater as a stage manager, house manager, producer, director, curator, playwright, and performer. Sequoia has worked on and offstage with organizations such as Aniccha Arts, Art Shanty Projects, Exposed Brick Theatre, Māoriland, Pangea World Theater, Patrick’s Cabaret, Poetry and Pie, The Southern Theater, and Turtle Theater Collective.
Katherine Henly
Praised for her captivating and affecting portrayals in genres ranging from opera, to musical theater, jazz, and pop throughout the United States and abroad, soprano Katherine Henly (she/her) has performed with LA Opera, Washington National Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Charlottesville Opera, Virginia Opera, The New York Musical Theatre Festival, The New York International Fringe Festival, The O’Neill National Music Theater Conference, and at The Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman. She spent her summers as a young artist with Utah Festival Opera, Charlottesville Opera, and The Glimmerglass Festival.
As a soloist, Ms. Henly has performed with Utah Lyric Opera, Utah Valley Symphony Orchestra, The Ramsey Wind Symphony, Palisades Virtuosi, Worcester Symphony Orchestra, Camerata New York, in concert at Mechanics Hall and Carnegie Hall.
Jenny O’Connell
Jenny O’Connell's (she/her) debut book project, Finding Petronella, traces her 2014 solo trek across Finland following the footsteps of a female legend into the heart of the Arctic Circle. A Maine Literary Award finalist and Pushcart Prize nominee, Jenny's writing has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, SLICE Magazine, Appalachia Journal, Hippocampus, and elsewhere. She is an outdoor contributor at Maine Magazine. This is her first libretto.
Jenny earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Stonecoast. She lives in Portland, Maine, where she teaches creative writing to youth and adults, works on initiatives that empower writers to create positive change through the literary arts, and guides wilderness expeditions.
Elise Parker
Violinist Elise Parker (she/her), a core member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra since 2012, is an active part of the Twin Cities music scene. Ms. Parker also performs with Minnesota Sinfonia, VocalEssence, Minneapolis Pops, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Forum, Hennepin Theatre Trust, as well as recording and performing with the Guthrie Theater, STRINGenius, the Children’s Theatre, and is a member of the Jamison String Quartet. The Star Tribune has described her playing as “soulful,” while the Pioneer Press wrote “Elise Parker wrings pure beauty from her violin.”
Ms. Parker has been a teacher for the Augsburg University Suzuki Talent Education Program, a nationally and internationally recognized program. She is also the adjunct teacher at Augsburg University.
Justin Anthony Spenner
Praised as a “Standout” with “boisterous comic energy” by the Star Tribune, Baritone Justin Anthony Spenner (he/him) is known throughout the Twin Cities for his artistic honesty and engaging versatility. At home with Schubert, as he is with Stockhausen, Justin’s appearances run the gamut from recital and oratorio staples with regional organizations to world premieres of experimental music. Recent stage credits include Schaunard (La Bohème) with Theater Latte Da, Father (The Golden Ass/World Premiere) with 113 Composers Collective, Joey (The Most Happy Fella) and Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte) with Skylark Opera Theatre, among many others.
As a 2016 Artist Initiative Grant recipient, Justin produced a staged version of Schubert’s Die Winterreise, which used dance and commissioned photography to re-imagine the piece through the lens of mental illness. In addition to performing, Justin keeps an active private studio, develops Opera Immersion classes, and works as a grant editor/consultant for various Twin Cities arts non-profits and individual artists.
This activity is made possible by the Decameron Opera Coalition.
10 creative teams. 9 companies from across the United States. 4 electric nights of new opera.