Points Unknown: Exploring Our Relationship To Otherness Through The Pigeon Keeper

To workshop a new opera in front of an audience is a little like agreeing to a trust fall: at some point, you've just got to surrender to the unknown and… trust. Andrea Fellows Fineberg and Anna Garcia return to the orchestral workshop for The Pigeon Keeper, a collaboration between Santa Fe Opera's Opera For All Voices (OFAV) initiative and the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD). Andrea and Anna introduce folks to Caitlin Lynch, Assistant Professor of Music at U-M, and Jayce Ogren, Director of Contemporary Directions Ensemble at U-M, the visionary duo responsible for bringing The Pigeon Keeper to the campus. Together they go behind the scenes of OperaLab, their new initiative to connect SMTD students with opportunities to workshop and perform contemporary music from living composers. They also explore how the themes of the opera connect to modern realities with student musicians; learn about community support for refugees, asylum seekers, and others seeking humanitarian protection with Freedom House Detroit; and find out what advice principal artists would give to future cast members.  The episode ends with audience reflections on loss, exclusion, and opera as a catalyst for hard conversation. "The arts," said one workshop goer, "can facilitate tangible action, dialogue, and change that can come from this emotionally resonating work." It's insights like this that keep OFAV commissioning new works and collaborating in inventive ways.  Learn more about Freedom House Detroit at freedomhousedetroit.org. FEATURING: Rebecca Clark - Cover for Orsia Ava Hawkins - Ensemble Jamiyah Hudson - Ensemble  Tyrese Byrd - Cover for The Pigeon Keeper Caitlin Lynch - Assistant Professor of Music at U-M Jayce Ogren - Director of Contemporary Directions Ensemble at U-M David Hanlon - Composer, The Pigeon Keeper  Daniel Millan - Clarinet  Lulu Nester, Engagement Coordinator, Freedom House Detroit  David Siebert, volunteer, Freedom House Detroit Nathan Harah - Kosmo  Bernard Holcomb - The Pigeon Keeper, The Widow Grocer, The Schoolteacher And numerous students and audience members. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance SMTD OperaLab Contemporary Directions Ensemble Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio Freedom House Detroit The House On Mango Street opera University Philharmonia Orchestra THE PIGEON KEEPER CREATIVE TEAM: David Hanlon, Composer Stephanie Fleischmann, Librettist Kelly Kuo, Music Director And Conductor RELATED EPISODES: Season 2 Episode 4 - Hope Is the Thing With Feathers: A first look at The Pigeon Keeper Season 4 Episode 4 - In a Room Making Music With People: The Pigeon Keeper with Stephanie Fleischmann and David Hanlon Season 4 Episode 9 - Competing Interest: How Do You Workshop a New Opera? Season 5 Episode 5 - Music Born Out of a Modern Experience: The Pigeon Keeper Orchestral Workshop *** Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera for All Voices. Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios Hosted by Andrea Fellows Fineberg & Anna Garcia Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz Production Support from Alex Riegler Show Notes by Lisa Widder Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello Cover art by Dylan Crouch This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Hankins Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an Opera America Innovation Grant supported by the Anne & Gordon Getty Foundation.   To learn more about Opera For All Voices, visit SantaFeOpera.org. And for more Key Change, visit SantaFeOpera.org/KeyChange.