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For the best experience we recommend viewing this video horizontally and listening with headphones.

Wicker Park, In Caricature is a piece that took me a while to get started. I had done a bunch of research on the area, but nothing was jumping out to me. I was stumped. Whenever I write something, I am inspired by unusual quirks, original stories, or humorous humanity. So I went back to what I knew and began writing about the people that I would see around Wicker Park. I wanted to capture the movement of the area. Everyone is always out and about, going about their day, simply trying to survive. The cello brings the hustle and bustle, while the tenor observes each unique individual’s day to day. I love to sit and people watch, imagining who they are, where they are going, or where they have been. This piece is a little glimpse into that.

Cast

Michael R. Oldham

Composer, Librettist

Michael R. Oldham

Composer, Librettist

Michael R. Oldham (b. 1989 Braidwood, IL) is a composer and pianist who weaves artwork, story, and imagination into his work. Whether experimenting with looping videos on Instagram as the “parts” of a piece that anyone can play (Music In Segments – 2018), utilizing repeating gif images of old silent films as inspiration for a twelve-movement work (Music In Gifs – 2019), or translating great works of art into music (Suggestion Box: Art – 2020, The Egon Schiele Pieces – upcoming), Michael’s thirst for unusual storytelling through music is never quenched.

One of the many projects keeping Michael busy over quarantine is a weekly art song series entitled, Lugubrious Portraiture, or, Art Songs for Those on the Peripheries of Love. Michael virtually gathered eight of his friends in the Chicago opera scene and beyond to create this series, which has premieres on his Instagram (@WhoaItsMichaelO) and YouTube channel every Sunday through April 2021.

Continuing this trend, his work as composer-as-storyteller is ever-present in the albums, EPs, and singles he has self-released. Recent albums include In Select Theaters (2019), which is his first full-length album of piano solos based on imagery of cinema past, Three Vignettes (2017), which is a work with short stories for violin and piano, The Los Angeles Miseries (2016), which is a set of pieces for solo piano on perspectives attained while driving across America from Chicago to Los Angeles, Grand Delusions on a Small Scale (2015), which features early solo piano works, as well as Fantasies for Piano (2014), which is a six-movement dissection of some of his favorite songs by artists including Fiona Apple, Dirty Projectors, My Brightest Diamond, Andrew Bird, St. Vincent, and Sufjan Stevens. Follow Michael R. Oldham now on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream music.

Michael earned his Bachelor’s degree in Film Scoring and Composition from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied briefly at Philippos Nakas Conservatory in Athens, Greece. He also keeps quite busy as a collaborative pianist in and around Chicago, including work with Chicago Fringe Opera and Chicago’s illustrious improv institution, Second City.

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

A City of Works Pianist/Composer 2021
Sounds of Pride Pianist 2019
Sounds of Pride 2020 Pianist/Composer 2020

Jonathan Zeng

Tenor

Jonathan Zeng

Tenor

Lauded for his versatility as a performer and accomplished in Musical Theater, Opera, Oratorio and Concert repertoire, critically acclaimed tenor, Jonathan Zeng, has performed throughout the United States with companies such as Cincinnati Opera, Central City Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Memphis, Utah Festival Opera, and the Princeton Festival. With a voice described by Chicago publications as “valiant”, “stunning”, “vibrant”, and “rich”, Jonathan is based in Chicago and has appeared as soloist with The William Ferris Chorale in the American premiere of John Joubert’s Five Songs of Incarnation and Bonaventura Somma’s Missa Pro Defunctis. You may also have seen him singing with the Grant Park Symphony Chorus, in Johnny Johnson or The Csardas Princess with Chicago Folks Operetta, or performing in Chicago Fringe Opera productions The Long Christmas Dinner, Trouble In Tahiti, Turn of the Screw, and Song From the Uproar. Roles elsewhere range from Goro in Madama Butterfly & Beppe in I Pagliacci to Prince Charming in Cinderella, Chip Tolentino in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Frederic in Pirates of Penzance.  An avid proponent for arts education and vocal instruction, Jonathan has served as an adjunct faculty member in the Preparatory Department at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and has maintained a private voice studio for more than a decade. Jonathan received a BA in Music Education from the School of Music at Western IL University and an MM in vocal performance from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM). Jonathan also writes and records his own music.

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

Sounds of Pride 2020 Soloist 2020
Sounds of Pride Soloist 2019
Love Wounds Narcissus 2019
Dynamic Donuts: A Fundraiser for Love Wounds Soloist 2019
The Long Christmas Dinner Charles 2018
Fringe at the Taproom Soloist 2018
The Great God Pan Clarke and Meyrick Cover 2018
Song from the Uproar Ensemble 2016
The Turn of the Screw Miles 2015
Chicago Fringe Opera’s Lakeside Soiree Soloist 2015
Voices in the Dark, Jazz & Trouble in Tahiti Tenor, Jazz Trio 2015

Allison Chambers

Cello

Allison Chambers

Cello

Chicagoland native Allison Chambers began playing cello at the age of nine. She enjoys an eclectic musical career of teaching, orchestral playing, and chamber music. Allison strives to be a “citizen musician,” as Yo-Yo Ma defines it, by serving the community through art and music. She currently teaches all ages through the Elmhurst College Community Music Program. Allison is a former member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, and presently performs with the South Bend Symphony and Illinois Symphony Orchestras. She is also an active chamber musician with Fifth Wave Collective, a performing group working to bring the music of women to the foreground of classical music. Allison has spent her summers conducting a European concert tour with the Buffalo Grove High School Orchestras, performing with Chicago Summer Opera, and concertizing across wine country with Festival Napa Valley. Allison holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Elmhurst College and a master’s
degree in cello performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts. When she isn’t behind her cello, you can find her enjoying time with loved ones, exploring the outdoors, or curled up with a good book.

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

A City of Works Cellist 2021

Artistic Team

Concept/Director
George Cederquist

George Cederquist

Concept/Director

George is the Producing Artistic Director of Chicago Fringe Opera (called “the city’s alt-opera company” by the Chicago Tribune), which produces experiential, immersive, and site-specific productions of operas composed in English. At CFO, George has directed Woyzeck, The Rosina Project, The Long Christmas Dinner, The Great God Pan (world premiere), Lucrezia, In the Penal Colony, The Turn of the Screw, Trouble in Tahiti and The Rape of Lucretia.  Camera opera filmwork includes Corsair, The Widow’s Will, and A City of Works.

In addition, George has directed opera scenes at Wolf Trap Opera and Chautauqua Opera, and new productions with the Chicago Sinfonietta, Pittsburgh Opera, the Bay View Music Festival, Chicago Folks Operetta, and Chicago Opera Vanguard. An enthusiastic mentor, George is the Producing Artistic Director of Opera and Theatre at North Park University, and has taught acting, auditioning and scene study at Northwestern University, Roosevelt University, and DePaul University.

Now in its seventh season, George hosts Opera Box Score, America’s Talk Radio Show About Opera, heard every Monday night on WNUR 89.3 FM Chicago and wherever you get your podcasts. The show tackles the week’s opera headlines and discusses them in a sports talk radio format.

A recipient of the 2015 American Prize in Directing, George’s production of Silent Night was chosen as a winner of Opera America’s 2013 Director-Designer competition. As one of ten Americans to receive the 2011-12 German Chancellor Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, George served as a Regieassistent at the Staatstheater Darmstadt.

George’s training includes the Resident Artist Stage Director program at Pittsburgh Opera, serving as the Apprentice Stage Director at the Merola Opera Program, and as the Directing Fellow at Wolf Trap Opera. He holds an MFA in Directing from Northwestern University and a BA in Theatre Studies and English from Yale University. A dual US-UK citizen, George is a proud ensemble member of Steep Theatre Company (Chicago) and the American Guild of Musical Artists.

He lives with his wife, their two children, their cat, and their four chickens, in Chicago.

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

The Heroes Project – The Widow’s Will Director 2021
A City of Works Artistic Director 2021
Corsair Creative Director 2020
The Rosina Project Fall 2021 (NOITP) Concept & Stage Direction 2021
Arts in the Dark Director 2019
Woyzeck Director 2019
The Rosina Project Director 2019
The Long Christmas Dinner Director 2019
The Rossini Project Director 2018
The Great God Pan Director 2018
Lucrezia Director 2017
In the Penal Colony Director 2016
The Turn of the Screw Director 2015
Voices in the Dark, Jazz & Trouble in Tahiti Director 2015
The Rape of Lucretia Director 2014
Concept/Commissioning/Music Direction
Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Concept/Commissioning/Music Direction

Catherine O’Shaughnessy is a rising orchestral and opera conductor in the United States and abroad. Her performances have earned rave reviews from the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Classical Review (“great skill, alertness and sensitivity”), and Vocal Arts Chicago (“resourcefulness…scrappiness and…fierce concentration”). Avidly committed to Chicago’s dynamic musical scene, she is currently the music director of Chicago Fringe Opera, and Principal Conductor of the 5th Wave Collective. In 2020, she proudly helped produce Fringe’s contribution to the Decameron Opera Coalition’s Tales From a Safe Distance—winner of the “Best Collaboration” award from 360° of Opera—which makes innovative use of technology to reimagine this art for challenging new circumstances.

A semi-finalist in the 2016 Spazio Musica International Conducting Competition, Catherine made her New York debut conducting Antonio Salieri’s La Cifra with the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble. She has also music directed Pyramus and Thisbe in Freiberg (Mittelsächsisches Theater) and conducted Don Giovanni and La Traviata in Orvieto (Teatro Mancinelli). In 2013 she conducted the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra at a sold-out performance in Tchaikovsky Hall, and in 2017 she guest-conducted the Piccadilly Symphony Orchestra (Manchester, UK). Catherine holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral and opera conducting from Arizona State University, where she was a student of William Reber and Timothy Russell.

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

Two Remain Music Director 2022
Woyzeck Music Director 2019
Love Wounds Music Director 2019
The Long Christmas Dinner Music Director 2019
The Great God Pan Music Director 2018
Lucrezia Music Director 2017
Song from the Uproar Conductor 2016
In the Penal Colony Conductor 2016
Concept/Editor
Brad Caleb Lee

Brad Caleb Lee

Concept/Editor

Brad Caleb Lee is a UK based visual dramaturge. With CFO he designed Lucrezia, The Long Christmas Dinner, Woyzeck, Corsair and co-conceived A City of Works. Other collaborators include East Riding Theatre, Opera’r Ddraig, Summer Theatre of New Cannon, Richard Burton Theatre Company, Elan Frontoio, Welsh National Opera, Opera Sonic, Music Theatre Wales, Prague Shakespeare Company, Theatre Tuscaloosa, Hell in a Handbag, and Filament Theatre.

Brad curated and designed YOUR VOICE!, an immersive community-driven exhibition reopening the Wales Millennium Centre, was the Curatorial Producer of Prague Quadrennial 2019, was featured in World Stage Design 2017, and co-designed the award-winning British pavilion, MAKE/BELIEVE for PQ2015 / Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Brad is the founding editor of Ascending and has previously edited other publications on theatre design. He holds an MA from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and both a BA and a BS of Commerce from The University of Alabama.

Productions with Chicago Fringe Opera

Two Remain Production Designer 2022
A City of Works Co-concept / Designer 2021
Corsair Production Designer 2020
Woyzeck Production Designer 2019
The Long Christmas Dinner Set Designer 2019
Lucrezia Production Designer 2017
Song from the Uproar Assistant Director & Stage Manager 2016
Supported by The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, & the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Chicago Fringe Opera is an Opera America Partner.

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