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Cast

Hazel M. Johnson, the mother of environmental justice.

Chicago Fringe Opera is proud to partner with opera companies across the US for the Decameron Opera Coalition’s second film series: “The Heroes Project”.

On October 1, a collection of original film tributes to unsung American heroes will be released.  CFO’s camera opera celebrates the life and work of the mother of the environmental rights movement, activist Hazel M. Johnson.  “The Widow’s Will” highlights Johnson’s struggle against the City of Chicago to bring attention to the toxic pollution of the Altgeld Gardens community.  The film considers her legacy today, as well the effects of politics and racism on her work, ending with a call to action for audiences to continue her environmental activism.

This film is produced in grateful collaboration with the People for Community Recovery, the non-profit environmental organization founded by Johnson.

This production is sponsored in part by John Bierbusse.

Cast

Hazel Johnson

Amanda Noelle Neal

Amanda Noelle Neal

Hazel Johnson

Amanda Noelle Neal is a Black and Filipina multi-disciplinary artist based in Chicago, Illinois. She has performed with Hearing In Color, Thompson Street Opera Company, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Kathleen Battle’s Freedom Chorus. Amanda studied vocal performance at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts (MM, 2013) and Loyola University New Orleans (BM, 2011). Starting in 2012 she began performing with various bands, studio projects, music improv, and sketch comedy. You can see her in the Chicagoland area and beyond with the Kababayan Collective, Forte Chicago, Club Asia, Doki Doki Beats, Hair Affair, and Super Rad: Chicago’s Ska Tribute. Amanda enjoys streaming video games, playing the ukulele, and spoiling her dogs. @blkbeltsoprano on Instagram, Twitter, and Twitch.

The Press

Naomi Brigell

Naomi Brigell

The Press

Naomi Brigell, mezzo-soprano, is quickly gaining recognition as an “expressive, athletic and strong-voiced” presence on the operatic stage (Naples Daily News). In 2018, Brigell joined Opera Naples as a resident artist, performing as Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) and Giannetta (L’elisir d’amore). She then joined Des Moines Metro Opera as an apprentice artist, where she was featured on the main stage as Third Wood Sprite (Rusalka). Other highlights include Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte) with Opera in the Heights, Sesto (La clemenza di Tito) with Chicago Summer Opera, and Nancy (Albert Herring) with Opera Breve.

Brigell was awarded the grand prize in the Kristin Lewis Foundation Competition and first runner-up in the Mobile Opera Madame Rose Competition. During her academic studies, she was awarded the Winifred and Maurice Hirsch Memorial Scholarship and the Ellalou Dimmock Award.

Naomi Brigell is a proud graduate of University of Houston and Boston University.

The City

Peter Wesoloski

Peter Wesoloski

The City

Peter Wesoloski has firmly established himself in the Chicago music world as a soloist and choral singer. Operatic credits include the titular role of Yevgeny Onegin (Chicago Vocal Arts Consortium), Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro, Utah Vocal Arts Academy), Alfio (Cavalleria Rusticana, Main Street Opera), and Sam (Trouble in Tahiti, New Moon Opera) as well as less serious “character” roles such as Benoit/Alcindoro (La Bohème, Da Corneto Opera) and Pistola (Falstaff, Main Street Opera). No stranger to the concert stage, Peter has also been featured as the soloist in the Fauré Requiem and Schubert Mass in G (Chicago Master Singers) and as Peter/Pilate (Johannes-Passion, Grace Lutheran Church). Additionally, Peter is dedicated to the art of song and sings regularly at the Liederstube with pianist Eugenia Cheng, as well as performances for the annual Schubertiade at PianoForte since 2016. He has performed in salons and recitals in London, Amsterdam, Auckland and Sydney, as well as Minneapolis and Chicago. Peter is currently preparing the title role in the new work “Death of Ivan Ilych” (Young/Olejniczak) with the Thompson Street Opera Company as part of the work’s premier performances in partnership with Opera Orlando.

Artistic Team

Composer
Elizabeth Rudolph

Elizabeth Rudolph

Composer

Elizabeth Rudolph is a Chicago-based composer “whose music takes advantage of the rhythmic complexity of minimalism to emphasize thoughtfully composed melodic storytelling.” according to contralto Katherine Dalin. Rudolph’s music has been performed and/or recorded by VOX3, Third Eye Theater, New Moon Opera, Chicago Fringe Opera, Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, Interlochen Arts Academy Chorale, and Opera on Tap-Chicago. Her most recent evening-length opera, Imogen, had its debut with New Moon Opera in 2019. Here, Rudolph shed convention and voiced and scripted roles to be genderless, smartly designing a work that gives more singers an opportunity to be heard. Rudolph is an established classical soprano in her own right, and enjoys collaborating with working artists to create new classical music in all formats, especially art-songs. “Singing her music is always immensely musically and dramatically fulfilling.” says soprano Mary Govertsen.

Other commissions include, Lincoln Square (soprano and cello) for the Chicago Fringe Opera City of Works project, Just a Phase (TTBB Choral) for the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus on the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, The Third Night (baritone, bass clarinet, and piano) for VOX3, La Belle Dame sans Merci (SATB chorale) and Incidental Music for The Tempest (chamber music), for Interlochen Center for the Arts.

She attended Roosevelt University (MM-Vocal Performance) and St. Olaf College (BM-Vocal Performance and Music Theory/Composition) where she studied composition with Dr. Peter Hamlin and Dr. Timothy Mahr. She began composing at the age of 14 under the tutelage of Dr. Alan Hirsch, then finished high school at Interlochen Arts Academy where she advanced her composition and music theory study with Dr. Elaine Broad-Ginsberg.

 

Librettist
Bilal Dardai

Bilal Dardai

Librettist

Bilal Dardai is an award-winning dramatist and performer based within the Chicago area. He has worked as an episode writer for HartLife NFP’s acclaimed audio production Unwell (2020 winner of the BBC Audio Award for “Best Podcast/Online Drama”) and Fable & Folly’s Alba Salix, Royal Physician. He is also the creator of Spellcast, an audio production within Six to Start’s Zombies! Run fitness app, and the adaptor of Book-It Repertory’s recent audio production of The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes. He is an alumnus ensemble member and former artistic director of internationally known performance artist collective The Neo-Futurists, and a current ensemble member at Lifeline Theatre, where he has also functioned as writer, performer, and audio consultant for the company’s recent adaptations of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, Miss Holmes, Sense & Sensibility, and a collection of short stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe. Bilal has been nominated for four Joseph Jefferson Awards as a writer and actor, and has appeared onscreen in independent films Unexpected (dir. Kris Swanberg, 2015) and Operator (dir. Logan Kibens, 2016).

Director of Photography & Editor
K. F. Jacques

K. F. Jacques

Director of Photography & Editor

K. F. Jacques [pronounced k. f. Żak] is a classical singer and hip hop producer. He has been featured on the Rosie Show (Oprah Winfrey Network), various Polish Television and radio networks, and has toured the US, Poland, and several other countries! Currently he is the head composer of, and plays the role of Figaro in, “The Rosina Project”, a hip-hopera version of The Barber of Seville with a cast of talented rappers, dancers, a beatboxer, dj, and singers. The Rosina Project was recently included in The Pivot Arts Festival two years in a row, featured on ABC 7 News, Chicago SunTimes, and The Chicago Tribune, and was also featured in a citywide summer tour of Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks. Shortly after completing his Masters in opera performance, bass-baritone Khary Laurent took to producing his own material and creating a brand-new genre on the forefront of hip-hop and opera music under the pseudonym K. F. Jacques. Mr. Laurent has advanced from a chauffeur day job to captivating audiences worldwide with his exceptional fusion of rap, opera, and pop; dubbed OperaTronic. He’s performed multiple times as a headliner at House of Blues Chicago, and has performed his classic solo rendition of the national anthem at United Center, U. S. Cellular Field, and Soldier Field.

Music Director
Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Catherine O'Shaughnessy

Music Director

Catherine O’Shaughnessy is a rising orchestral and opera conductor in the United States and abroad. Avidly committed to Chicago’s dynamic musical scene, she is currently the music director of Chicago Fringe Opera, the assistant conductor of Opera Festival of Chicago, and has appeared conducting productions at Chicago Opera Theater and DePaul University. In 2020, she 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. 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.

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.

Visual Dramaturg
Brad Caleb Lee

Brad Caleb Lee

Visual Dramaturg

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.

Costume Designer
Kate Setzer Kamphausen
Audio Editor
Chungers Kim

Chungers Kim

Audio Editor

Chungers Kim has established himself as a vibrant presence in the Chicago classical music scene since he moved to the city in early 2012. As a Music Director and vocal coach, he is very active in playing for numerous rehearsals, shows, recitals, conducting and directing various choirs in the communities, and teaching vocal music and theory to potential music lovers throughout the city. He directed and conducted many beloved Broadway shows such as Beauty and the Beast, Guys and Dolls, The little shop of Horrors, Shrek the Musical, The Sound of Music.

Mr. Kim is also an active concert soloist and opera singer. He has appeared as Masetto in The Floating Opera Company’s performance of Don Giovanni at The Bohemian National Cemetery. Other roles include Don Pasquale from Don Pasquale, Leporello (cover) from Don Giovanni, the Watchman from Maskarade and Schaunard (cover) from La Bohème. On the classical concert setting, Mr. Kim sang M. Haydn’s Te Deum with VOX3 Collectives and Lakeview Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with St. Croix Valley Orchestra, as well as J.S.Bach’s Cantata BWV131 and F.J.Hadyn’s Te Deum with UW – River Falls Concert Choir.

As a young musician, he had the privilege of being involved with the Minnesota Chorale, with whom he had the opportunity to work with highly acclaimed conductors such as Osmo Vänskä, Nicholas Kraemer, Andrew Litton, and Dr. Kathy Saltzman Romey. Currently, Mr. Kim studies with W. Stephen Smith and works at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church as Music Director.

The Heroes Project

One ticket gives you access to all three episodes of “The Heroes Project" Watch the chapters on the premier date, Oct 1, or at your leisure.

Each episode is comprised of a diverse collection of chapters created by companies from across the country. These creators explore the meaning of heroism and profile unsung, unconventional, or misunderstood heroes from varying eras and geographies.


Hero Songs

DECAMERON OPERA COALITION

By Peter Hilliard & Matt Boresi

The Place

LYRIC OPERA OF THE NORTH

By Maria Thompson Corley & Sandra Oyinloye

A Letter to Our Children

Resonance Works

By Justine F. Chen & Jacqueline Goldfinger

Unsung Activist

Opera in the Heights

By Steve Wallace

Sacajawea: Woman of Many Names

Fargo-Moorhead Opera

By Dawn Avery & Blake Hill-Saya

The Widow's Will

Chicago Fringe Opera

By Elizabeth Rudolph & Bilal Dardai

Home Cooked Heroes

Milwaukee Opera Theatre

By Brit Nicole & Ms. Lotus Fankh

Heroes of New York

Bare Opera

By Dina Pruzhansky & Briana Hunter

Supported by The CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture, the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Chicago Fringe Opera is an Opera America Partner.

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