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Chicago Fringe Opera joins forces with Access Contemporary Music and Lux Cantorum for a full world-premiere concert performance of Seth Boustead and J. Robert Lennon’s chamber opera adaptation of the cult 1962 science fiction film La Jetée, later remade by Terry Gilliam as 12 Monkeys.

Performances will be held at
Constellation
3111 N Western Ave, Chicago

COVID POLICY
Chicago Fringe Opera is dedicated to the safety of its artists and patrons. Proof of Covid vaccination is required upon entry.

Livestream and In-Person viewings are available.

Cast

The Man

Samuel James Dewese

Samuel James Dewese

The Man

Baritone Samuel James Dewese continues to forge a path as a unique and evocative vocal artist. Returning to Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 2024-25 season, he appears as Diego Rivera in Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World/Illick. Additional operatic highlights include Sam/ Trouble in Tahiti, Father/Hansel and Gretel, Astrophel/The Arcadians, and Marcello/La Bohème. In concert, Samuel has been a soloist at Portsmouth Cathedral (UK), Highgate Choral Society, and the Illinois Wind Symphony. Dedicated to the future of vocal music, Samuel’s world and US

premiere credits include The Perfect Opera (Edinburgh Fringe), Would You Eat Me? (Thompson Street Opera Company), La Jetée (Chicago Fringe Opera) and the title character in John Henry (Tête à Tête, London). Samuel is a transracial adoptee, and the 2024-25 season includes the debut of From Cradle to Stage, a concert celebrating The Cradle, the Evanston, IL adoption agency that connected Samuel and his family. Samuel is an alumnus of the Royal College of Music, London and the Florentine Opera apprentice program, and has been honored in competition byJames Toland Vocal Arts, the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, the Hariclea Darclée Competition, and the Luminarts Foundation.

The Woman

Brennan Martinez

Brennan Martinez

The Woman

Brennan Martinez has been described as “a mezzo-soprano to be watched” (Opera Lively) and sings with “power, authority, and a most intriguing color to her wide-ranging voice” (Classical Voice of North Carolina).

Recent performances include roles and events with Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, Cedar Rapids Opera, Piedmont Opera, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, the Glimmerglass Festival, and the Bay View Music Festival. She was also a member of the closing night ensemble of Kristin Chenoweth: My Love Letter to Broadway at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre in New York City.

She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and was a Fletcher Fellow at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University.

First Experimenter

Isaac Frishman

Isaac Frishman

First Experimenter

Tenor Isaac Frishman has been praised for his “quick-witted stage antics” and a voice described as “truly sweet and graceful” (Broadway World). Traditional operatic highlights include Count Almaviva in Barber of Seville, Prince Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Tonio in La fille du Regiment, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, and Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore. Isaac has performed all over the country but most notably, made his main-stage debuts at Lincoln Center, San Francisco Opera, and the Spoleto Festival, Kentucky Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera. Equally adept on the concert stage, Mr. Frishman has sang as the tenor soloist in performances of Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s cantata BWV 131, and the Monteverdi Vespers.

Second Experimenter

Dorian McCall

Dorian McCall

Second Experimenter

Baritone Dorian McCall, a compelling singing actor with an ample and copiously colored legato, has been recognized for his magnetic stage personality and emphatic musicality in both buffo and serious roles.

Covers

The Woman
Ruth Ginelle Heald

Ruth Ginelle Heald

The Woman

Mezzo-soprano Ruth Ginelle Heald is equally at home singing opera, musical theater, pop, and jazz styles. Stage credits include Mrs. Soames (Rorem’s Our Town), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Rose (Secret Garden), Arlen Specter (Dunphy’s Gonzales Cantata), She (Purcell’s King Arthur), and the title role in Carmen. Ruth has performed with Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Chorus, Florentine Opera Chorus, Chicago Choral Artists, Portland Symphonic Choir, and Willamette Master Chorus. Her endeavors as a “singing drummer” have taken her around the world, including tours in Spain, Ireland, England, and China. She enjoys providing drums and vocals for Goldfoot, her Portland-based funk-rock band. Ruth currently resides in Chicago with her husband, Elijah, and their two cats, Furnando and Nutmeg.

The Man
Timothy Bostwick

Timothy Bostwick

The Man

Timothy Bostwick is a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in Performance and Literature with a cognate in Musicology. His dissertation, The Nightingale’s Voice: Exploring Jenny Lind as a Proto-feminist, explores the famed singer as an example of a woman that transcended societal norms in Victorian England.  In addition, Mr. Bostwick has been awarded the Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship.

Additionally, as an avid performer, Mr. Bostwick, baritone, has been applauded as an “impressive and impactful voice” in Hansel und Gretel and described in his role as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia as “Pure comic joy.”  Recently, he returned to his alma mater, Drake University, to perform the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff and the titular role in Gianni Schicchi at Eastern Illinois University. Having lived in New York City, he performed roles including Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore and Schaunard in La Boheme with Amore Opera and Germont in La Traviata. Once back in the Midwest, he has continued to perform including Chucho in Lucrezia (Bolcom), Father in Hansel and Gretel and recently debuted the role of Saul in the new opera, The Psalm of Silence. This summer he will make his debut at Opera Quad Cities as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly* and at Landlocked Opera as Sherlock Holmes in A Certain Madness.

Mr. Bostwick also has a busy recital schedule, next year he will return to Drake University to perform a Clara Schumann recital to celebrate her life and contributions to music.* Previously, he has performed Wolf’s Italienishes Liederbuch and his American Art Song recital, Songs of Democracy. Other roles include: Alfio in Cavallerìa Rusticana, Barone di Trombonok in Il Viaggio a Reims, Top in The Tender Land, Marullo in Rigoletto, and the title roles in Gianni Schicchi and Le Nozze di Figaro. He returned to Des Moines as Escamillo in Carmen to the Opera Project Des Moines and as Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Sugar Creek Opera.

In addition, Mr. Bostwick holds degrees from Drake University and The Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College.

Second Experimenter
Joseph Ryan

Joseph Ryan

Second Experimenter

Joseph Ryan graduated from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with a Masters in Vocal  Performance. He participated in young artist programs with Sarasota Opera, Central City Opera, and the  Opera Theatre of Lucca, Italy. Most recently he sang Conte Almaviva and Papageno with Lyric Opera  Studio of Weimar’s production of Le nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte, respectively, in Weimar  Germany; Basilio in Natchez Festival of Music’s May 2017 production of Il barbiere di Siviglia; and  Dandini in Winter Opera St. Louis’ January 2017 production of La Cenerentola. In 2016, Mr. Ryan covered the role of Pizarro in Fidelio with Sarasota Opera, sang Doctor Engel in Orlando Light Opera’s  The Student Prince, and performed Guglielmo in Le Villi with South Florida Lyric Opera. Other recent credits include the Mandarin in Turandot (St. Petersburg Opera, 2015); Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro,  King Dodon (cover) in The Golden Cockerel, and Rodrigue (cover) in Don Carlos (Sarasota Opera, 2015);  German Soldier #3 in Silent Night (Cincinnati Opera, 2014); Morales in Carmen (Opera Tampa, 2014);  and the Sacristan in Tosca (Natchez Festival of Music, 2014).  

He was a semi-finalist in the 2017 Opera Connecticut American Opera Idol Competition and the 2012  Opera Birmingham Competition, and he won 2nd place in the 2014 American Prize Competition Opera  Division. In his hometown of Cincinnati he performed for eight seasons with the Cincinnati Opera, and in  Florida has also been seen as the Father in Hansel und Gretel (Opera Naples, 2011), Monterone in  Rigoletto (St. Petersburg Opera, 2011), and the baritone soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana and Mozart’s  Requiem (Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, FL 2010 and 2011).

Lux Cantorum Chicago

Conductor
Wilbert O. Watkins
Sopranos
Allison Davidson
Brenda Kenyon
Erika Saltzman
Julie Hill
Marcella Richardson
Altos
Alice Dryden
Amanda Nelson
Beth Fioritto
Heidi Letzmann
Linda Thurston
Tenors
Brandon Michaels
Dan Rogers
Glenn Klaassen
Jen Ostafinski
Basses
Chris Gernand
Dennis Lauritsen
Philip Kendall
Scott Enloe

Palomar Ensemble
Access Contemporary Music

Flute
Tim Hagen
Clarinet
Elizandro Garcia-Montoya
Bass Clarinet
Christie Miller
Trumpet
John Dorhauer
Trombone
Paul von Hoff
Violin I
Henry Zheng
Violin II
Christine Chon
Viola
Traci Newhouse
Cello
Alyson Berger
Bass
Douglas Johnson
Percussion I
Cleo Goldberg
Percussion II
Rebecca McDaniel
Piano
Amy Wurtz

Artistic Team

Composer
Seth Boustead

Seth Boustead

Composer

Seth Boustead is a composer, broadcaster, writer, concert producer, in-demand speaker and visionary with the goal of revolutionizing how and where classical music is performed and how it is perceived by the general public.
As the founder and Executive Director of Access Contemporary Music, Seth has created unique programs like the Sound of Silent Film Festival, the Thirsty Ears Festival, a chain of storefront music schools, and dozens of concerts in New York, Chicago, Milwaukee and Mexico City. Seth is the host and creator of the award-winning podcast Relevant Tones and the Concept Lab series in Manhattan.

Librettist
J. Robert Lennon

J. Robert Lennon

Librettist

J. Robert Lennon is the author of nine novels, including Familiar, Broken River, and Subdivision, and the story collections Pieces for the Left Hand, See You in Paradise, and Let Me Think. He lives in Ithaca, New York.

Conductor
Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Conductor

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.

Director
George Cederquist

George Cederquist

Director

George is the Producing Artistic Director of Chicago Fringe Opera, called “the city’s alt-opera company” by the Chicago Tribune. Recent directing credits for the company include LA JETEÉ and CORSAIR, as well as the company’s long-running hit show THE ROSINA PROJECT, a Hip-Hop adaptation of THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.
In addition, George has directed new productions and workshops of operas, musicals, and plays with Opera Festival of Chicago, Chicago Dramatists, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Pittsburgh Opera, the Bay View Music Festival and Chicago Folks Operetta.
An inspiring mentor, George is the Producing Artistic Director of Opera and Theatre at North Park University.

Now in its ninth season, George hosts OPERA BOX SCORE [America’s Talk Radio Show About Opera] on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and WNUR 89.3 FM Chicago.

To learn more about George, visit gjcederquist.com. He proudly uses zero social media platforms.

Chorus
Lux Cantorum Chicago
Orchestra
Palomar Ensemble, Access Contemporary Music

Media

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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