Dr William Schimmel’s new chamber opera “SEANTIC: JOSEPHINE” will receive its premiere on January 29, 2014 at the Gershwin Hotel in New York.
It was commissioned and will be performed by The Colonials (photo above), a new group that specializes in music that crosses centuries. The scoring is for Accordion (William Schimmel), Baroque Violin (Kristina Giles), Baroque Cello (Paul Dwyer), Baroque Bass (Doug Balliett) , Piano (Alexandria Le and Leading Vocalist.
Sharon Harms will be the Leading Lady.
The Colonials are classically-trained musicians who want to make art accessible to everyone. Their programs are designed to show the dialogues and similarities between “old” music (Baroque period to 20th century) to newly written works. The members have diverse training on modern and period instruments, as well as different modern genres such as bluegrass and jazz. Some are composers, too. In their shows, you will be treated to a wide range of music and sounds from an array of instruments as well as interactive dialogue with the performers, who welcome questions and discussion about the pieces, instruments used, and interpretation.
The Colonials play in non-traditional venues such as cafes/bars, mixed use performance spaces, and living rooms. Shows are informal, because they love to have fun and you, the audience, should have fun, too.
Dr. William Schimmel supplies the following program notes:
There is no plot or linear story
It’s a surreal portrait of a woman who assumes the essence of Josephine:
1.Josephine Baker – diva, ex-patriot, worked with French resistance, tried to have a comeback in America
2.Josephine – wife of Napoleon – complexity and contradiction
3.La Femme Nikita – anti-terrorist whose secret code name was Josephine
They form a kind of Trinity – 3 in one person
Instrumentalists serve as commentators as well as devotees (minions)
Singer sings abstract extractions from two Josephine Baker songs – “Blue Skies” and “J’ai Deux Amours”.
Instrumentalists comment with Alley Oop Josephine – which I took from an actual 1930’s radio broadcast in Berlin – the radio announcer introduced her with: Alley Oop Josephine!
Singer performs in one place for entire piece – during instrumental sections she tries on various types of sunglasses.
Instrumentalists form a circle around her – possibly a table with everybody around it and her standing at center – to give a kind of liturgical elegance, a negotiation, the last supper, a corporate board meeting, a surreal Mass, an anti-terrorist assignment or all of the above.
At each accordion chord at the end, the players keel over one by one as if being shot. Josephine picks up a cell phone and holds that pose. The instrumentalist get up (from the dead) for bows indicating the end of the opera – turning a tragedy into a dark comedy.
All of the real action is internalized. Who is she? What really happened?
William Schimmel said, “Some of the films that inspired me to do this opera are:”Persona” – Ingmar Bergman – two women merge as one;”That obscure object of Desire” – Luis Bunuel – one part played by two women; “La Femme Nikita “- TV series in the late 90’s; “Diva”, a French New Wave film of the 1980’s about an Opera singer who refuses to record;”The Tenth Victim”, a cult film of the 1960’s starring Ursula Andress – inspired the “Hunger Games”.
If a singer is not available – the vocal part can be done by the accordionists assuming the role as a surreal “story teller” telling the story (or non story) from the accordion but, of course, the ideal solution is a female singer – any nationality or age.”
For further information: Billschimmel@billschimmel.com
Available online are 6 CD’s and compositions by: William Schimmel
