Sentinel Opera
Los Angeles, California | Theatre
Drama, Experimental
Support SENTINEL to redefine opera with visionary storytelling, evocative music, movement, and innovative technology. Groundwork laid, libretto complete, deep in development.
Sentinel Opera
Los Angeles, California | Theatre
Drama, Experimental
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $9,676 for development. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
58 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
Support SENTINEL to redefine opera with visionary storytelling, evocative music, movement, and innovative technology. Groundwork laid, libretto complete, deep in development.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
SENTINEL is a multidisciplinary chamber opera that transports audiences into a future beyond time, exploring themes of control, surrender, and the timeless essence of grief. The opera immerses viewers in a multi-dimensional exploration of human connection, loss, and the stark realities of a world teetering on the edge of digital fantasy and ecological collapse.
At its core, SENTINEL is a poignant journey of a woman confronting psychological trauma and seeking healing. As she traverses manufactured digital worlds, psychedelic realms, and vanishing natural environments, the opera delves deep into the question of how technology both connects and isolates humanity.
As her reality blurs with hallucination, our heroine (H.) navigates a solitary existence, tethered to screens and haunted by tinnitus. SENTINEL begins by introducing us to H.'s world: where she lives, works, and communicates entirely through a network of screens. She talks with a man, her beloved (B.), over a video chat, ignores frantic calls from her mother, and orders a new psychedelic drug from the dark web. The next day, her call with B. is eerily similar, and with the arrival of the drug she ordered, memories begin to entwine themselves with her hallucinations, leading to a climax where truth and tragedy collide in a jarring revelation.
Control and surrender are at the heart of this opera. Will our heroine leave the lush virtual world of her own construction and risk re-entry into a world she is unable to design? Our characters traverse a kaleidoscopic journey through the warm depths of human connection, while facing the brittle cold of profound loss and loneliness. The opera navigates a manufactured digital world, the psychedelic realm, and a natural world rapidly disappearing from humanity’s abuse.
The Music
Following our heroine and her beloved on a metamorphic journey through altered states of consciousness, the music of SENTINEL mirrors the emotional complexities of trauma, memory, and healing. An accompanying chamber ensemble and choir capture the sonic landscapes of these internal and external contradictions—supporting, fighting, and ultimately guiding our characters to transformation.
The music of SENTINEL follows our heroine and her beloved on a journey through altered states of consciousness. An accompanying chamber ensemble and choir capture these internal and external sonic landscapes of contrast and contradiction—supporting, fighting, and ultimately guiding them to transformation.
SENTINEL embraces multidisciplinary collaboration by incorporating visual art installations that interact with the music and narrative in real time. These interactive elements, developed in partnership with designers and technologists, deepen the audience's engagement with the opera's themes, and create a truly immersive experience.
While the specific manifestations of these elements may evolve as the project develops, SENTINEL aims to deliver a groundbreaking collective experience that challenges perceptions, sparks introspection, and fosters dialogue about the human experience in an ever-changing world.
Why Now, and Why Us?
SENTINEL is not just another opera; it's an urgent exploration of the human condition in the digital age, and a redefinition of the chamber opera. As artists, we are compelled to tell this story because it challenges perceptions of opera as an artform, sparks conversations on technological proliferation, and delves into the depths of the human psyche. Our team is headed by a depth psychologist and opera performer, Danielle Birrittella, and choreographed by Stephanie Zaletel, a choreographer who has always made a point of creating trauma aware art. Claressinka Anderson, librettist, has deftly crafted an emotional, heart wrenching journey, and as composer Annika Socolofsky puts it to music, the emotional energy of Anderson's words are transformed into sweeping, transformative music. Not only are these artists well suited for our subject material, they are also artists who are established, and have gained acclaim all across the country. Our team has won a Tony, been mentioned in The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and the LA Times, and has won awards such as the Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize, the Princess Grace Award in Theater Design, the Richard Sherwood Award from CTG, and Kinetic Lighting Award for distinguished achievement in theatrical design from LA Drama Critics Circle. Annika Socolofsky's music was credited by the Chicago Tribune as one of "Chicago's Top 10 for Classical Music, Opera, and Jazz that defined 2021". Through immersive storytelling, we aim to provoke introspection, inviting audiences to confront their own inner demons and reevaluate their relationship with technology and reality.
What We Have
SENTINEL is already well on it's way! Claressinka Anderson has finished the libretto, and Annika Socolofsky has already composed all of Act 1. We have also received funding from PEAK Performances, so the money raised here is the last step to making our workshop a reality!
What We Need Now...
...is time together with the team. We are gathering funds to support a Fall 2024 workshop, where we can explore and develop our music. This will include working with a chamber ensemble, and having our singers begin to explore and perform their characters. We will work with choreographer Stephanie Zaletel to create movement and staging, and bring in Tony Award nominated projection designer Hana Soonyeon Kim to craft the visual world of SENTINEL.
Your donation will be used to rent a performance and rehearsal space, as well as covering the fee for our performers and band, composed of three singers, two saxophones, two cellos, a percussionist, keyboardist, and bass clarinet. It will make sure we have staff and crew to run the workshop, and cover our props, costumes, and set. We need to have a workshop to show the realized ideas to future presenters and partners, so that SENTINEL can continue to grow into an actualized piece.
This campaign is our chance to bring SENTINEL to life with the support of our community. Your contribution will not only aid in the production of the opera but also enable us to deliver a powerful and thought-provoking theatrical experience. We invite you to join us on this journey by pledging your support, spreading the word, and becoming part of a movement to illuminate the shadows of the mind. Together, let's ensure that SENTINEL reaches its full potential and leaves a lasting impression on audiences worldwide.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Creative Team
Costs $3,000
Compensation for our creative producer, composer, librettist, choreographer, projection designer, and conductor.
Cast and Band
Costs $3,800
Our cast and band is composed of 3 performers, 2 saxophones and cellos, percussion, a keyboardist, and a bass clarinet.
Performance Venue
Costs $2,000
To present the workshop, we need to be in a venue that can support our technical needs and all the folks we want to come see us!
Equipment and Production Supplies
Costs $3,200
From renting a projector or sound equipment, to making sure our team is fed and hydrated, this money is the backbone of our production!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Our team is composed of truly innovative and inspiring artists. Danielle Birrittella's voice and creations have been lauded as, "exposed, intelligent, earnest... powerful and persuasive” (The New York Times), while composer Annika Socolofsky's music has been called “unbearably moving” (Gramophone), and has toured the country with her “feminist rager-lullabies” titled Don’t say a word. Winner of the Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize, Librettist Claressinka Anderson's poems have been widely published and anthologized. Stephanie Zaletel is the founder of szalt, which focuses on creating dance experiences in trauma-aware, consciously feminist-led spaces, as well as being a prolific choreographer.
PRAISE FOR OUR TEAM:
“A breath of pure creative power.”
— OPERA WIRE
“Unlike anything I've ever seen. One of the more moving experiences I've had in recent memory.”
— THEATRE TIMES
“Raptly lyrical... awe inspiring”
— THE NEW YORKER
“The right balance between edgy precision and freewheeling exuberance.”
— THE GUARDIAN
“A hopeful vision of what opera can be and do in the twenty-first century.”
— PARTERRE BOX
“Sensational, revealing layer upon layer of sheer musical gorgeousness capable, from the first bars, of lifting the spirits.”
— LA TIMES
Danielle Birrittella (creator, performer) is a California-based performer, creator, and composer of new operatic work whose projects have been lauded as “a breath of pure creative power” (Opera Wire). Danielle’s extensive background in opera and experimental theatre yield an artist with an instinct for pushing the boundaries of contemporary classical music.
As a creator of new works, Danielle bridges new music, devised performance, and film with a particular focus on collaborative engagement with poets, dancers, and visual artists. Her dual roles as creator and performer of her operatic projects deliver a unique level of authenticity and intimacy to her pieces. In addition, her work as a practicing depth psychotherapist heavily influences her creative endeavors. By weaving layers of symbolism, archetypal motifs, and emotional insight, she explores the psyche's capacity for healing and transformation.
Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Opera Wire, The Financial Times, and on NPR. She is the creator of Sonnets To Orpheus, an immersive song cycle set to Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry, and co-creator of Magdalene, a chamber opera set to Marie Howe’s poetry scored by fourteen female composers. Danielle’s “high, crystalline soprano” has been said to be “mesmerizing… as hypnotic to watch as she is to hear” (The Wall Street Journal, Parterre). As a performer she is “exposed, intelligent, earnest… powerful and persuasive” and has a “radiant, nearly angelic presence” (The New York Times, The Financial Times).
Performances include PROTOTYPE Festival, The LAX Festival, The Chautauqua Institute, The Standard, KCRW Desert NIghts, The Ace, SoFar Sounds, The Bootleg Theatre, Automata Arts, La Music Lirica (Italy), La Main d'Or (France), and The Ludwig Foundation (Cuba). The upcoming West Coast Premiere of Magdalene will take place in June at the CalArts REDCAT theater located in Walt Disney Concert Hall. She holds degrees from California Institute of the Arts (MFA), Pacifica Graduate Institute (MA), and New York University (BA), and is a member of SAG/AFTRA and ASCAP.
Claressinka Anderson (librettist) is a Los Angeles-based poet and writer. She is the winner of the Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize, and her poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications including Best New Poets, Los Angeles Review of Books, Autre Magazine, Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (Carla), as well as in the anthology, Choice Words: Writers on Abortion. Anderson has worked as an art dealer, advisor and curator, and was the founder of the gallery and art salon Marine Projects (2009-2017). Through her ongoing collaborations with artists, her work engages the interstitial spaces of contemporary art, literature, and music. Anderson holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College. Born and raised in London, she lives in Los Angeles and dreams about rain.
Annika Socolofsky (composer) is a composer and avant folk vocalist who explores corners and colors of the voice frequently deemed to be "untrained"
and not "classical." Described as “unbearably moving” (Gramophone) and “just the right balance between edgy precision and freewheeling exuberance” (The Guardian), her music erupts from the embodied power of the human voice and is communicated through mediums ranging from orchestral and operatic works to unaccompanied folk ballads and unapologetically joyous Dolly Parton covers. Annika writes extensively for her own voice, including composing a growing repertoire of “feminist rager-lullabies” titled Don’t say a word, which serves to confront centuries of damaging lessons taught to young children by retelling old lullaby texts for a new, queer era. Annika has taken Don’t say a word on the road, performing with ensembles including Eighth Blackbird, New European Ensemble, Albany Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Latitude 49, and Contemporaneous. Her follow-up feminist rager-lullaby song cycle in collaboration with ~Nois, titled I Tell You Me, was recognized by the Chicago Tribune as “grotesquely gorgeous... among the most captivating compositions heard the whole festival [Ear Taxi 2021]” and was included in their “Chicago's Top 10 for classical music, opera and jazz that defined 2021.” Recordings of her music are available on New Amsterdam, Bright Shiny Things, Naxos, and Innova record labels. Her research focuses on contemporary vocal music, using the music of Dolly Parton to create a pedagogical approach to composition that is inclusive of a wide range of vocal qualities, genres, and colors. She is Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Colorado Boulder, and is the recipient of the 2021 Gaudeamus Award. She holds her PhD in Composition from Princeton University. aksocolofsky.com
Stephanie Zaletel (choreographer) is a dance artist, movement facilitator, dream-tender, caregiver, environmentalist, plant-based eater and cook, and mental health advocate currently residing in Los Angeles. Stephanie’s early career was threaded together with prolific creative practices inspired by her quest to access and create dance experiences in trauma-aware, consciously feminist-led spaces, and in 2015 she founded szalt to deepen this learning and expression. As a freelance artist, Stephanie performs and creates works for musicians, short films, dance, opera, and theater companies nationally and internationally.
In addition to their work with szalt, Stephanie has created works for musical artists, films, dance, opera, and theater companies nationally and internationally including collaborations with clipping., C. Prinz, Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company, Beth Morrison Projects, and Lars Jan's
Early Morning Opera. In 2022 Stephanie was a guest artist at California Institute of the Arts and Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University
as well as an Artist in Residence at Loghaven in Knoxville, TN. Stephanie holds a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the California Institute of the Arts and a CE Certificate in Somatic Psychotherapy and Practices from Antioch University.
Hana S. Kim (projection designer) is a Tony Award winning video and scenic designer with experience across film, theater, and public art. Her work has been seen in theaters across the country, including at the Public Theater in NYC, A.C.T. in SF, SF Symphony, LA Opera, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, Opera Colorado, and South Coast Rep. Her art installations have been shown at the Annenberg Space of Photography in LA, Jordan Downs Recreation Center, Occidental College, and Baryshinikov Arts Center in NY.
Hana is a recipient of the Tony Award for Lighting Design for a Musical, the Princess Grace Award in Theater Design, Richard Sherwood Award from CTG, and Kinetic Lighting Award for distinguished achievement in theatrical design from LA Drama Critics Circle. Her designs have been recognized by the Helen Hayes Award, Stage Raw Awards, StageSceneLA Awards, and Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Awards. She is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. Her most recent projects include the Magdalene at Prototype NYC, Sweet Land with the Industry Opera in LA, Emerging Voices Concert with Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and On the Other Side with Marike Splint.
Marc Lowenstein (music director) is a conductor, composer and educator. He is the founding Music Director of the Industry, Los Angeles’ groundbreaking and widely acclaimed experimental opera company. With the Industry, he has helped lead works that challenge the operatic paradigm, including Chacon and Du Yun's Sweet Land, Hopscotch, Cerrone's Invisible Cities, and LeBaron's Crescent Cities. He lead three seasons of the Industry's First Take showcase and the workshop of Akiho's Galileo. With the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Industry he was music director for Lou Harrison’s Young Caesar and Cage’s EUROPERAS.
Outside of the Industry, Marc has been Music Director for several opera premieres including John King’s Dice Thrown, and the American premieres of George Aperghis’ L’Origine des Espèces, Veronika Krausas’ The Immortal Thoughts of Lady MacBeth, Stephen Oliver’s Peach Blossom Fan, and Murray Schaeffer’s Loving. He has also worked with the LA Phil as a cover conductor, leading the premiere of Hermann’s The Call, and assisting on Hearne’s PLACE and Norman’s Trip to the Moon. With Beth Morrison Productions he co-conducted the premiere of Danielle Birrittella’s Magdalene and conducted on New York City Opera’s Vox opera workshop program for four years.
He is an active composer, writing music infused with a searching sense of narrative and mysticism. He has been called “a terrific singer” (LA Times), an “assured conductor” (New York Times), and “raptly lyrical” (New Yorker). Marc has taught at CalArts since 1996, and teaches courses centered around a humanistic approach to Music Theory and composition. He has a CalArts Coursera Class called ‘Approaching Music Theory’ and loves talking about Music Theory and the fact that it doesn’t really exist.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
SENTINEL is a multidisciplinary chamber opera that transports audiences into a future beyond time, exploring themes of control, surrender, and the timeless essence of grief. The opera immerses viewers in a multi-dimensional exploration of human connection, loss, and the stark realities of a world teetering on the edge of digital fantasy and ecological collapse.
At its core, SENTINEL is a poignant journey of a woman confronting psychological trauma and seeking healing. As she traverses manufactured digital worlds, psychedelic realms, and vanishing natural environments, the opera delves deep into the question of how technology both connects and isolates humanity.
As her reality blurs with hallucination, our heroine (H.) navigates a solitary existence, tethered to screens and haunted by tinnitus. SENTINEL begins by introducing us to H.'s world: where she lives, works, and communicates entirely through a network of screens. She talks with a man, her beloved (B.), over a video chat, ignores frantic calls from her mother, and orders a new psychedelic drug from the dark web. The next day, her call with B. is eerily similar, and with the arrival of the drug she ordered, memories begin to entwine themselves with her hallucinations, leading to a climax where truth and tragedy collide in a jarring revelation.
Control and surrender are at the heart of this opera. Will our heroine leave the lush virtual world of her own construction and risk re-entry into a world she is unable to design? Our characters traverse a kaleidoscopic journey through the warm depths of human connection, while facing the brittle cold of profound loss and loneliness. The opera navigates a manufactured digital world, the psychedelic realm, and a natural world rapidly disappearing from humanity’s abuse.
The Music
Following our heroine and her beloved on a metamorphic journey through altered states of consciousness, the music of SENTINEL mirrors the emotional complexities of trauma, memory, and healing. An accompanying chamber ensemble and choir capture the sonic landscapes of these internal and external contradictions—supporting, fighting, and ultimately guiding our characters to transformation.
The music of SENTINEL follows our heroine and her beloved on a journey through altered states of consciousness. An accompanying chamber ensemble and choir capture these internal and external sonic landscapes of contrast and contradiction—supporting, fighting, and ultimately guiding them to transformation.
SENTINEL embraces multidisciplinary collaboration by incorporating visual art installations that interact with the music and narrative in real time. These interactive elements, developed in partnership with designers and technologists, deepen the audience's engagement with the opera's themes, and create a truly immersive experience.
While the specific manifestations of these elements may evolve as the project develops, SENTINEL aims to deliver a groundbreaking collective experience that challenges perceptions, sparks introspection, and fosters dialogue about the human experience in an ever-changing world.
Why Now, and Why Us?
SENTINEL is not just another opera; it's an urgent exploration of the human condition in the digital age, and a redefinition of the chamber opera. As artists, we are compelled to tell this story because it challenges perceptions of opera as an artform, sparks conversations on technological proliferation, and delves into the depths of the human psyche. Our team is headed by a depth psychologist and opera performer, Danielle Birrittella, and choreographed by Stephanie Zaletel, a choreographer who has always made a point of creating trauma aware art. Claressinka Anderson, librettist, has deftly crafted an emotional, heart wrenching journey, and as composer Annika Socolofsky puts it to music, the emotional energy of Anderson's words are transformed into sweeping, transformative music. Not only are these artists well suited for our subject material, they are also artists who are established, and have gained acclaim all across the country. Our team has won a Tony, been mentioned in The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and the LA Times, and has won awards such as the Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize, the Princess Grace Award in Theater Design, the Richard Sherwood Award from CTG, and Kinetic Lighting Award for distinguished achievement in theatrical design from LA Drama Critics Circle. Annika Socolofsky's music was credited by the Chicago Tribune as one of "Chicago's Top 10 for Classical Music, Opera, and Jazz that defined 2021". Through immersive storytelling, we aim to provoke introspection, inviting audiences to confront their own inner demons and reevaluate their relationship with technology and reality.
What We Have
SENTINEL is already well on it's way! Claressinka Anderson has finished the libretto, and Annika Socolofsky has already composed all of Act 1. We have also received funding from PEAK Performances, so the money raised here is the last step to making our workshop a reality!
What We Need Now...
...is time together with the team. We are gathering funds to support a Fall 2024 workshop, where we can explore and develop our music. This will include working with a chamber ensemble, and having our singers begin to explore and perform their characters. We will work with choreographer Stephanie Zaletel to create movement and staging, and bring in Tony Award nominated projection designer Hana Soonyeon Kim to craft the visual world of SENTINEL.
Your donation will be used to rent a performance and rehearsal space, as well as covering the fee for our performers and band, composed of three singers, two saxophones, two cellos, a percussionist, keyboardist, and bass clarinet. It will make sure we have staff and crew to run the workshop, and cover our props, costumes, and set. We need to have a workshop to show the realized ideas to future presenters and partners, so that SENTINEL can continue to grow into an actualized piece.
This campaign is our chance to bring SENTINEL to life with the support of our community. Your contribution will not only aid in the production of the opera but also enable us to deliver a powerful and thought-provoking theatrical experience. We invite you to join us on this journey by pledging your support, spreading the word, and becoming part of a movement to illuminate the shadows of the mind. Together, let's ensure that SENTINEL reaches its full potential and leaves a lasting impression on audiences worldwide.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Creative Team
Costs $3,000
Compensation for our creative producer, composer, librettist, choreographer, projection designer, and conductor.
Cast and Band
Costs $3,800
Our cast and band is composed of 3 performers, 2 saxophones and cellos, percussion, a keyboardist, and a bass clarinet.
Performance Venue
Costs $2,000
To present the workshop, we need to be in a venue that can support our technical needs and all the folks we want to come see us!
Equipment and Production Supplies
Costs $3,200
From renting a projector or sound equipment, to making sure our team is fed and hydrated, this money is the backbone of our production!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Our team is composed of truly innovative and inspiring artists. Danielle Birrittella's voice and creations have been lauded as, "exposed, intelligent, earnest... powerful and persuasive” (The New York Times), while composer Annika Socolofsky's music has been called “unbearably moving” (Gramophone), and has toured the country with her “feminist rager-lullabies” titled Don’t say a word. Winner of the Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize, Librettist Claressinka Anderson's poems have been widely published and anthologized. Stephanie Zaletel is the founder of szalt, which focuses on creating dance experiences in trauma-aware, consciously feminist-led spaces, as well as being a prolific choreographer.
PRAISE FOR OUR TEAM:
“A breath of pure creative power.”
— OPERA WIRE
“Unlike anything I've ever seen. One of the more moving experiences I've had in recent memory.”
— THEATRE TIMES
“Raptly lyrical... awe inspiring”
— THE NEW YORKER
“The right balance between edgy precision and freewheeling exuberance.”
— THE GUARDIAN
“A hopeful vision of what opera can be and do in the twenty-first century.”
— PARTERRE BOX
“Sensational, revealing layer upon layer of sheer musical gorgeousness capable, from the first bars, of lifting the spirits.”
— LA TIMES
Danielle Birrittella (creator, performer) is a California-based performer, creator, and composer of new operatic work whose projects have been lauded as “a breath of pure creative power” (Opera Wire). Danielle’s extensive background in opera and experimental theatre yield an artist with an instinct for pushing the boundaries of contemporary classical music.
As a creator of new works, Danielle bridges new music, devised performance, and film with a particular focus on collaborative engagement with poets, dancers, and visual artists. Her dual roles as creator and performer of her operatic projects deliver a unique level of authenticity and intimacy to her pieces. In addition, her work as a practicing depth psychotherapist heavily influences her creative endeavors. By weaving layers of symbolism, archetypal motifs, and emotional insight, she explores the psyche's capacity for healing and transformation.
Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Opera Wire, The Financial Times, and on NPR. She is the creator of Sonnets To Orpheus, an immersive song cycle set to Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry, and co-creator of Magdalene, a chamber opera set to Marie Howe’s poetry scored by fourteen female composers. Danielle’s “high, crystalline soprano” has been said to be “mesmerizing… as hypnotic to watch as she is to hear” (The Wall Street Journal, Parterre). As a performer she is “exposed, intelligent, earnest… powerful and persuasive” and has a “radiant, nearly angelic presence” (The New York Times, The Financial Times).
Performances include PROTOTYPE Festival, The LAX Festival, The Chautauqua Institute, The Standard, KCRW Desert NIghts, The Ace, SoFar Sounds, The Bootleg Theatre, Automata Arts, La Music Lirica (Italy), La Main d'Or (France), and The Ludwig Foundation (Cuba). The upcoming West Coast Premiere of Magdalene will take place in June at the CalArts REDCAT theater located in Walt Disney Concert Hall. She holds degrees from California Institute of the Arts (MFA), Pacifica Graduate Institute (MA), and New York University (BA), and is a member of SAG/AFTRA and ASCAP.
Claressinka Anderson (librettist) is a Los Angeles-based poet and writer. She is the winner of the Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize, and her poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications including Best New Poets, Los Angeles Review of Books, Autre Magazine, Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (Carla), as well as in the anthology, Choice Words: Writers on Abortion. Anderson has worked as an art dealer, advisor and curator, and was the founder of the gallery and art salon Marine Projects (2009-2017). Through her ongoing collaborations with artists, her work engages the interstitial spaces of contemporary art, literature, and music. Anderson holds an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College. Born and raised in London, she lives in Los Angeles and dreams about rain.
Annika Socolofsky (composer) is a composer and avant folk vocalist who explores corners and colors of the voice frequently deemed to be "untrained"
and not "classical." Described as “unbearably moving” (Gramophone) and “just the right balance between edgy precision and freewheeling exuberance” (The Guardian), her music erupts from the embodied power of the human voice and is communicated through mediums ranging from orchestral and operatic works to unaccompanied folk ballads and unapologetically joyous Dolly Parton covers. Annika writes extensively for her own voice, including composing a growing repertoire of “feminist rager-lullabies” titled Don’t say a word, which serves to confront centuries of damaging lessons taught to young children by retelling old lullaby texts for a new, queer era. Annika has taken Don’t say a word on the road, performing with ensembles including Eighth Blackbird, New European Ensemble, Albany Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Latitude 49, and Contemporaneous. Her follow-up feminist rager-lullaby song cycle in collaboration with ~Nois, titled I Tell You Me, was recognized by the Chicago Tribune as “grotesquely gorgeous... among the most captivating compositions heard the whole festival [Ear Taxi 2021]” and was included in their “Chicago's Top 10 for classical music, opera and jazz that defined 2021.” Recordings of her music are available on New Amsterdam, Bright Shiny Things, Naxos, and Innova record labels. Her research focuses on contemporary vocal music, using the music of Dolly Parton to create a pedagogical approach to composition that is inclusive of a wide range of vocal qualities, genres, and colors. She is Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Colorado Boulder, and is the recipient of the 2021 Gaudeamus Award. She holds her PhD in Composition from Princeton University. aksocolofsky.com
Stephanie Zaletel (choreographer) is a dance artist, movement facilitator, dream-tender, caregiver, environmentalist, plant-based eater and cook, and mental health advocate currently residing in Los Angeles. Stephanie’s early career was threaded together with prolific creative practices inspired by her quest to access and create dance experiences in trauma-aware, consciously feminist-led spaces, and in 2015 she founded szalt to deepen this learning and expression. As a freelance artist, Stephanie performs and creates works for musicians, short films, dance, opera, and theater companies nationally and internationally.
In addition to their work with szalt, Stephanie has created works for musical artists, films, dance, opera, and theater companies nationally and internationally including collaborations with clipping., C. Prinz, Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company, Beth Morrison Projects, and Lars Jan's
Early Morning Opera. In 2022 Stephanie was a guest artist at California Institute of the Arts and Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University
as well as an Artist in Residence at Loghaven in Knoxville, TN. Stephanie holds a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the California Institute of the Arts and a CE Certificate in Somatic Psychotherapy and Practices from Antioch University.
Hana S. Kim (projection designer) is a Tony Award winning video and scenic designer with experience across film, theater, and public art. Her work has been seen in theaters across the country, including at the Public Theater in NYC, A.C.T. in SF, SF Symphony, LA Opera, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, Opera Colorado, and South Coast Rep. Her art installations have been shown at the Annenberg Space of Photography in LA, Jordan Downs Recreation Center, Occidental College, and Baryshinikov Arts Center in NY.
Hana is a recipient of the Tony Award for Lighting Design for a Musical, the Princess Grace Award in Theater Design, Richard Sherwood Award from CTG, and Kinetic Lighting Award for distinguished achievement in theatrical design from LA Drama Critics Circle. Her designs have been recognized by the Helen Hayes Award, Stage Raw Awards, StageSceneLA Awards, and Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Awards. She is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. Her most recent projects include the Magdalene at Prototype NYC, Sweet Land with the Industry Opera in LA, Emerging Voices Concert with Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and On the Other Side with Marike Splint.
Marc Lowenstein (music director) is a conductor, composer and educator. He is the founding Music Director of the Industry, Los Angeles’ groundbreaking and widely acclaimed experimental opera company. With the Industry, he has helped lead works that challenge the operatic paradigm, including Chacon and Du Yun's Sweet Land, Hopscotch, Cerrone's Invisible Cities, and LeBaron's Crescent Cities. He lead three seasons of the Industry's First Take showcase and the workshop of Akiho's Galileo. With the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Industry he was music director for Lou Harrison’s Young Caesar and Cage’s EUROPERAS.
Outside of the Industry, Marc has been Music Director for several opera premieres including John King’s Dice Thrown, and the American premieres of George Aperghis’ L’Origine des Espèces, Veronika Krausas’ The Immortal Thoughts of Lady MacBeth, Stephen Oliver’s Peach Blossom Fan, and Murray Schaeffer’s Loving. He has also worked with the LA Phil as a cover conductor, leading the premiere of Hermann’s The Call, and assisting on Hearne’s PLACE and Norman’s Trip to the Moon. With Beth Morrison Productions he co-conducted the premiere of Danielle Birrittella’s Magdalene and conducted on New York City Opera’s Vox opera workshop program for four years.
He is an active composer, writing music infused with a searching sense of narrative and mysticism. He has been called “a terrific singer” (LA Times), an “assured conductor” (New York Times), and “raptly lyrical” (New Yorker). Marc has taught at CalArts since 1996, and teaches courses centered around a humanistic approach to Music Theory and composition. He has a CalArts Coursera Class called ‘Approaching Music Theory’ and loves talking about Music Theory and the fact that it doesn’t really exist.