Let’s Make a Sandwich
Opera Project
Let’s Make A Sandwich!
Let’s Make A Sandwich began in 2014 as an idea to showcase the creative process. By asking two composers to write short operas based upon the same source material, and having two different directors stage each opera, LMAS highlights the blurred line defining where the composer’s work ends and the creative team’s begins.
PERFORMANCES
Let’s Make A Sandwich I
September 25-27, 2014
The Zack Box at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Boston, MA
World Premieres of Rarebit or The Further Adventures of Sally Gasco and her Amazing Free-Range Sandwich by Curtis Hughes and Ouroboros by Rudolf Rojahn with directors Giselle Ty and Copeland Woodruff.
Let’s Make A Sandwich II
May 1-3 & 8-10, 2020
Boston Playwright’s Theatre, Boston, MA
World Premieres of “A Rip-Snorting Idea!” a corporate cabaret opera Anthony R. Green and “Etiquette” scene for 3 actors, small ensemble, and electronics by Victoria Cheah with directors Kirsten Cairns and Bruno Baker. (Performance cancelled due to COVID-19 shutdown)
Let’s Make a Sandwich Composers
Victoria Cheah
A composer working in multiple media and genres, exploring hierarchy, ambiguity, and the concert ritual. Her work has been commissioned / presented by MATA Festival, Ensemble Dal Niente, Vertixe Sonora, Marilyn Nonken, Trio Okho, Transient Canvas, Trio de Kooning, PRISM Quartet. Her teachers include David Rakowski, Eric Chasalow, Yu-Hui Chang, and Chaya Czernowin.
Cheah holds a B.A. in music from City University of New York Hunter College & Macaulay Honors College, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in composition at Brandeis University. In addition to her doctoral studies, Cheah has taught at Longy School of Music of Bard College, Harvard University (TF), and Brandeis University.
From 2011-2015, Cheah served as founding executive director of Sound Icon and has worked with new music organizations Manhattan Sinfonietta, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Composit and is currently production manager of Talea Ensemble and co-director of Score Follower/Incipitsify.
Rudolf Rojahn
A composer of contemporary art music. A founding artist and the formerly Co-Artistic Director of Guerilla Opera, he was the composer-in-residence for Boston’s Ludovico Ensemble from 2005-2010, a collaboration that resulted in several pieces including Antikythera Mechanism for bass clarinet and ensemble. He has also been commissioned and performed by the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, Juventas New Music Ensemble, the Lorelei Ensemble, the Arbelos Trio, Gabriela Diaz, Kent O’Doherty, Rane Moore, and the Green Light Consortium among others. From 2004-2006 he ran the Proletariat Tanning Salon, an event series pairing young composers and visual artists such as Camille Wainer and Nicole Margaretten. He has written three opera for Guerilla Opera: Heart of a Dog (2007), We are Sons (2009), and Bovinus Rex (2012).
Anthony R.Green
A composer, performer, and social justice activist that has had works presented in over 20 countries by The Playground Ensemble, Transient Canvas, Ossia New Music, Access Contemporary Music, Ensemble 212, and Alarm Will Sound and he has received grants from Meet the Composer, Argosy Foundation, New Music USA, and American Composers Forum as a McKnight Visiting Composer.
His work includes musical and visual creations, collaborations, educational outreach, and more. Behind all of his artistic endeavors are the ideals of equality, freedom, and social justice. Green is Co-founder, Co-artistic director, and composer-in-residence with Castle of our Skins, an organization dedicated to celebrating Black artistry through music performance and education. His work with Castle of our Skins has included concert and workshop curation and development, community outreach, and lecturing about the history and politics concerning Black composers of Classical music.
Curtis K Hughes
Described as "fiery" by the New York Times and "colorfully scored" by the Boston Globe, the music of CURTIS K. HUGHES is characterized by its rhythmic restlessness, its harmonic adventurousness and its often volatile mix of diverse stylistic elements and political subtexts. He has written for Tony Arnold, New Gallery Concert Series, Transient Canvas, Boston Musica Viva, and Guerilla Opera with performances across the world from Vermont's Yellow Barn to Bulgaria's Here/Now New Music Festival. A professor of composition at the Boston Conservatory since 2008, Curtis was a fellow at Tanglewood, and has served as composer-in-residence for Collage New Music and the Radius Ensemble. His music can be heard on the Albany, GM, New Focus, and Cauchemar labels.
Source Material
Music and libretto by Rudolf Rojahn Stage Direction by Giselle Ty
SCENE 2: (09/25/2014) As Sally and Mother fall asleep in their respective cells, they consi...
Photos from Let’s Make a Sandwich I (2014)
