A chamber opera
exploring artificial intelligence
and what it means to be human.
February 28, 6:30 and 9:00PM at National Sawdust, 80 N 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Composer and famed conductor Pedro Halffter creates this new and divergent small-format opera, with the clear intention of conquering new audiences. Through the enigmatic lyrics, and the play between choreography and singing, the production engages the audiences in a current reflection on the development of artificial intelligence.
In collaboration with National Sawdust and the New York City Opera
Composer, Librettist.
Pedro Halffter, a member of the celebrated Spanish musical family, has conducted in prestigious venues, such as the Musikverein in Vienna, Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Tchaikovsky hall in Moscow, the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hal
Composer, Librettist.
Pedro Halffter, a member of the celebrated Spanish musical family, has conducted in prestigious venues, such as the Musikverein in Vienna, Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Tchaikovsky hall in Moscow, the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, Teatro Verdi in Trieste, the Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo, the Staatoper in Munich, the Munich Opera Festival, the Lyceum in Barcelona, the Aalto Musiktheater in Essen, the National Theater in Mannheim, the Theater du Capitole in Toulouse, among others. He has occupied the podium of important orchestras, such as the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse, New Japan Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresdner Philharmonie, Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest and Orchester Symphonique de Montreal, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orquesta del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, as well as the most important Spanish symphony orchestras. His extensive lyrical repertoire covers various operatic styles, from Mozart to Berg, through the Italian opera of Puccini, Bellini or Verdi or the most representative titles by Wagner, Zemlinsky, Falla and Weill. He has premiered operas in Spain such as Dr. Faust, by Busoni, Die Schweigsame Frau by Richard Strauss or Der Ferne klang by Schreker, which he also conducted with great success at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, as well as Salomé by Strauss. Among his successes as a composer and director, he highlights the premiere at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 2016 of his new orchestration of Viktor Ullmann's opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis.
Soprano.
Hailed by Opera News as "charming," soprano Ashley Bell has performed as a soloist in the United States, Italy, Spain, France and Russia. She most recently made her debut with ABAO Bilbao Opera singing Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte and singing Cio Cio San with Boheme Opera New Jersey and Daytona Beach Symphony. 2022 highlights inc
Soprano.
Hailed by Opera News as "charming," soprano Ashley Bell has performed as a soloist in the United States, Italy, Spain, France and Russia. She most recently made her debut with ABAO Bilbao Opera singing Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte and singing Cio Cio San with Boheme Opera New Jersey and Daytona Beach Symphony. 2022 highlights include her debut with the Teatro Maestranza in Seville as Violetta in La Traviata, singing Mimi in La Bohème with California's Opera Modesto, Violetta in La Traviata in La Rioja and soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Orchestra Madrid Symphony, and originating the title role in Pedro Halffter's opera Klara in Spain and Harvard University. During the pandemic, Ashley produced and starred in the documentary film Rival Queens with music by Maria Stuarda, which has won 20 awards at international film festivals, including Best Documentary at the Tokyo Film Festival. In recent seasons, she made her Carnegie Hall debut as soprano soloist in Hadyn's "Nelson" Masse and Schubert's Misa in C, debuted as Madam Butterfly with California Townsend Opera, Mimi in La bohème with Mississippi Opera and Natchez Festival and in L'amore de tre re with New York City Opera. Ashley graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University and is fluent in five languages. Her upcoming engagements include Klara at the Teatro Pérez Galdós in Gran Canaria and the lead role in the opera La traviata at the Música en Villafranca festival.
Piano
An ardent, multifaceted Mexican artist, Silvia Santinelli has performed in concert halls worldwide, including at the Chopin International Music Festival in Marianske-Lazne, Czech Republic; the International Piano Festivals at Valle di Blenio, Switzerland; and the Rachmaninoff International Festival in Tambov, Russia, to mention a f
Piano
An ardent, multifaceted Mexican artist, Silvia Santinelli has performed in concert halls worldwide, including at the Chopin International Music Festival in Marianske-Lazne, Czech Republic; the International Piano Festivals at Valle di Blenio, Switzerland; and the Rachmaninoff International Festival in Tambov, Russia, to mention a few. Hailed as a “musician of great depth” (San Antonio Express-News), she continues to dazzle audiences in concert, whether in solo, chamber, or duo performances.
Highlights of her most recent engagements include performances at the International Piano Festival in Óbidos, Portugal; the RONDO - Vanguard Competition Winners Concert at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall; the Tuesday Musical Club Artist Series in San Antonio, Texas; the Griffin Concert Hall, Colorado State University School of the Arts; the salon concert series for the San Antonio International Piano Competition; and performances with the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio (now Classical Music Institute) at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, where she championed the rarely heard Sinfonia da Camera by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari.
In addition to receiving multiple awards and recognitions, Santinelli has been featured in various television and radio broadcasts, including National Public Radio (Performance Today), Texas Public Radio, KWEX (Univision), Televisa, and KMFA (Classically Austin), which featured her performance of the Ravel Concerto for the Left Handunder the baton of Kevin Noe.
Santinelli also specializes in and features the piano repertoire of Spain, in particular the music of Manuel de Falla. She continues to present selections of his music in concert exploring his compositional development as influenced by the sociopolitical, cultural, and musical currents of his time.
With the Marjory Powel Zachary Keyboard Endowment from the University of Texas at San Antonio, Silvia earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance under Busoni winner Valeri Grokhovski, while receiving additional interpretive instruction through the late Alexander Alexandrov from the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow.
Santinelli is also a recipient of the FONCA/CONACULTA Grant sponsored by Fulbright in Mexico and a Teaching Assistantship from the University of Texas at Austin where she obtained a Doctorate in Musical Arts with internationally acclaimed pianist Anton Nel. Dr. Santinelli is the Co-Founder of Classical Music Institute, a Tobin Center for the Performing Arts resident company created for cultivating classical music education and performance.
Soprano
Hailed by critics for her “beautiful singing” (Washington Post) and sustained fortissimos that are “most impressive, arresting attention repeatedly” (Philippine Star), Filipino soprano Katrina Saporsantos is a vocal artist known for the beauty of her voice and her captivating presence.
Katrina is a soprano, conductor, and arts admin
Soprano
Hailed by critics for her “beautiful singing” (Washington Post) and sustained fortissimos that are “most impressive, arresting attention repeatedly” (Philippine Star), Filipino soprano Katrina Saporsantos is a vocal artist known for the beauty of her voice and her captivating presence.
Katrina is a soprano, conductor, and arts administrator in Austin, TX.
2023-2024 features Katrina with her vocal quintet VAMP in Between the Worlds as the season opener for KMFA Classical 89.5’s Offbeat Series. Following that, Katrina sings the soprano solo in “Aurora” by the legendary Icelandic singer Björk, a new arrangement by Benjamin Dia, with new music groups Inversion Ensemble and Density512. She performs in Don’t Blink: An Evening of New Music, a recital with trumpet player Kenken Gorder and pianist Benjamin Dia, singing the music of Susan Kander and Beth Wiemann. She shares the stage with Inversion Artistic Director Trevor Shaw, co-conducting Inversion’s youth choir Nova in Zoology. She joins VAMP in a concert presented by Austin Classical Guitar, singing the world premiere of works by Joe Williams and of celebrated Indian-American composer Reena Esmail. After that, she performs again with VAMP in a concert presented by Austin Community College as part of its Find Your Voice series. Katrina makes her directorial debut of the professional soprano alto choir Da Capo in a joint concert, with the Inversion family of ensembles, that centers immigrant and refugee voices. In that concert, Da Capo premieres works by Inversion in-house composers Benjamin Dia (“Canto del viajero”) and Adrienne Inglis (“The Way We Meet”). Katrina will also be singing two world premieres on both days of the 2nd annual indie-classical music festival Here Be Monsters by Tetractys New Music: As part of VAMP, performing “Push” from Invisible Women by Russell Podgorsek, and as the soprano soloist of Inversion, singing “Godric and His Demons” by James Tecuatl-Lee. She joins fellow Austin-based artists for a Pride recital in Studio A in June. Finally, the season concludes with Katrina singing excerpts of Klara: Opera in Four Haikus for a soirée at Opera Hispánica in San Antonio, TX.
Opera Hispánica presents Klara, an opera in four haikus. Text and music by Pedro Halffter.
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