INFINITE MOVEMENT Music by Shara Nova · Text by Matthew Ritchie · Dramaturgy by Shara Nova & Matthew Ritchie
music.unt.edu
ABOUT THE EVENT The full-length performance takes place at the University of North Texas Lucille “Lupe” Murchison Performing Arts Center in the Margot and Bill Winspear Performance Hall on Tuesday, November 2, 2021. Tonight represents the world premiere of Infinite Movement.
ABOUT THE COVER
A horizontal image with a parchment color background and three dark humanoid figures. The central full-length figure stands flanked between mirrored figures with white concave bowls over their faces. The flanking figures are seen above, mainly appearing as torso, shoulders, and head. Behind the figure are shadows of an impression of intertwining branches that lighten in value as they recess upwards into the horizon. There are also repeated bigger shadows of the side figures. STILL IMAGE, ACTIVE LINE, 2021. COURTESY MATTHEW RITCHIE STUDIO AND JAMES COHAN GALLERY
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DEDICATIONS Dedicated to Our Teachers And especially one of mine, Dr. Paul Bonneau. I am writing this work in honor of Dr. Paul Bonneau, the one teacher at The University of North Texas who during my took-longer-thanplanned-undergraduate-vocal-studies-degree, believed that I might also be able to compose music, before I myself even dared to dream of doing such, and who did not see me restricted by the social norms assigned to my gender, who deeply respected the craft of songwriting, and opened my eyes to a broader definition of what the title “composer” could be. Thank you, Dr. Bonneau, for believing in me in my youth with a vision into which I am still growing. May your spirit look upon our masque with pleasure.
SHARA NOVA
And to all the students and faculty at UNT who inspired and supported this collaboration during the plague years.
MATTHEW RITCHIE
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CASTING, BACKGROUND DRAMATIS PERSONAE THE COMPOSER spoken Shara Nova THE TEACHER spoken Matthew Ritchie THE CHILDREN Ewan & Blythe MacMullen THE GARDENER baritone Jeff MacMullen THE WEAVER mezzo-soprano Sabatina Mauro THE DISCRIMINATOR Angel of Entropy, Witness of the Past; countertenor Daniel Bubeck THE GENERATOR Angel of Change, Herald of the Future; coloratura soprano Nini Marchese THE SIGNAL Treble Choir Kalandra THE NOISE Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Bass Choir University Singers with special guest Kori Miller BRASS QUINTET Two trumpets in Bb, Horn in F, Tenor Trombone and One fine Tuba Robert Parton, Rebecca Corson, Zach Anderson, Dustin Nguyen, Chris Martin TROMBONE QUINTET Three Tenor Trombones and Two Bass Trombones Tylar Bullion, Austin Richardson, Ashley Roberts, Kenn Ross & Clayton Yoshifuku PERCUSSIONIST Percussion Sophia Suante AI SOUND DESIGN Created and Performed by James Eck Rippie
A RITE for the latest generation of Humankind personated as a MOBIAL MASQUE in the court of the UNIVERSE. With texts conceived, imagined and interpreted by that ANCIENT OF DAYS, multimedia-ist Matthew Ritchie, with contributions from the QUICK and the DEAD, Paul Klee, John Milton, GPT-3, and other Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), inhumanly quickened MACHINE INTELLIGENCES which uses deep learning methods. All transformed to song and ordered by the empire of the senses embodied in THE COMPOSER and PARADOCTOR, Shara Nova. –4–
& ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A horizontal image with a parchment color background and a central dark humanoid figure from the waist up. The figure’s head is in the shape of a dodecahedron, with a similar large shape protruding from the back of the head. Behind the figure are shadows of an incomplete circle of intertwining branches expanded into the horizon. They lighten in value as they recess and shift in scale and space. STILL IMAGE, ACTIVE LINE, 2021. COURTESY MATTHEW RITCHIE STUDIO AND JAMES COHAN GALLERY We must also duly and emphatically acknowledge the without-whomnone-of-this-is-possible persons who toil in darkness: Stefanie Dlugosz-Acton, the curator of ‘Florilegium’, exhibition and experiment of court and yard at CVAD, who, while newly arrived in Denton in these plague years, conspired with tireless effort to create space and time for these imaginings. Eric Ligon, indefatigable designatuer, who lavishly clothed these masquers and in so many ways assisted this production.
Presented by the Honourable University of North Texas, their College of Visual Arts & Design and their College of Music. Hosted in the grand hall of Murchison for the SOULS of all here to witness in the GREAT COLLECTIVE EFFORT towards Understanding, all brought together under the precise baton of Dr. Kristina Caswell MacMullen, upon the second day of November, In the Two Thousand and Twenty-First year of the Common Era. Which is the Four Thousand Two Hundred Second year since the first recorded telling of the stories of the GARDEN and the great FLOOD, WHICH EVEN NOW THREATENS to SUBMERGE US ALL in both SPIRIT and BODY. –5–
Nicholas Roth, illuminator from the City of Angels, whose alchemical animations and mechanicals populate the Morphic dreams projected herein. Nathan Thatcher who bringeth the ephemeral into the Third Dimension, and who arranged some fine brass arrangements in short time and with a joyful spirit. Additional thanks to the transcribers of notes sung out of tune, but with good faith & trust and who thus afforded us the possibility of this play: Nathan Thatcher Joshua DeVries Clay Gonzalez Douglas Hertz Jeremy Rohwer & Ryan Ayres Additional thanks to Beige Cowell, assistant to Ms. Nova.
INFINITE MOVEMENT
PHOTOS BY KIM LEESON –6–
SETTING The places and times are NOW, and THEN, and YET TO COME. The work is accompanied by animations of the GAN. In this space, demons and angels come and go, stories and pictures bloom, blossom and wither.
“His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back his turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. The storm is what we call progress.” WALTER BENJAMIN THESIS IX ON PAUL KLEE’S ANGELUS NOVUS ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN FORTY YEARS
THE DISCRIMINATOR is the slave of entropy, witness of the past, always looking backward. But there is another angel, (there is always another angel). THE GENERATOR is the very wind of heaven, angel of change, of chance, of the future, who whispers in our ears, “turn your face forward, only forward…”
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ACT I THE PAINTING TITLES
THE TEACHER & COMPOSER Time, form of waiting Silence, form of time Gospel, sung to years The floating shore Bird is to flower Adversary Bramble is to thorn Generator Garden, in the player Discriminator Garden, in the blood Light headed god No one likes to listen But still we should Obey and dance Feet, spread like wings Across the glass, the world, the sea First case Time bound Half winged Half imprisoned The stronger the pull The higher the rise We dress the garden The knowing fruit The garland, dropped True, in our fall False, in our promised rising Last case Where everything is right Only one rule No questions But some are not Some were broken Why is our joy not enough So we made it bigger
THAT OLD STORY
A CHILD That old first story. older than time. A garden perfect, A paradise.
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WALKING MEDITATION – AMBIENT BIRDS The Garden. The light is still dim, and getting dimmer. Shafts of light are moving through the trees. THE SIGNAL–THE NOISE move slowly into the space, unordered, in contemplation and at one with Nature.
WE LABOUR STILL
THE GARDENER We labour still We dress the garden We tend the Tree The knowing fruit Eat and be as Gods
THE SIGNAL – THE NOISE Eat and be as Gods AH! THE GARDENER The Garland dropped The roses shed THE SIGNAL – THE NOISE Last, best and lost THE GARDENER Can I live without you In the wild woods?
THE WILDWOOD
THE SIGNAL – THE NOISE Ah! Oo! rrrrrrrrrr!
FIRST CASE
THE DISCRIMINATOR The First case, The active line First case, The active line, The falling, they fell, they fall. The tree lies fallen The garden is ablaze Waterwheel and hammer
The work grows Stone on stone Timebound Through the heavy dark A bullet fired THE SIGNAL – THE NOISE A bullet A shooting star A shooting star A stone falls A stone falls A meteor A meteor Ah! Ah! Ah!
THE METEOR
THE SIGNAL – THE NOISE Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
SEPARATION
THE SIGNAL – THE NOISE Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! HALF-WINGED THE DISCRIMINATOR Half-winged half-imprisoned The arrow is the thought The stronger the pull the higher the rise The surface white, The sudden black The all too present white, The sudden black Infinite movement Everywhere THE SIGNAL nananana…...
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ACT II THE FIRST LECTURE
THE TEACHER John Milton. I call him John, writes “Paradise Lost”, as a kind of index of previous versions of the story so far. It’s got all the Greek gods and the Egyptian gods. It’s got a bit about mining. It’s got a bit about astronomy. He’s looking at Kepler and the old systems being replaced with the new. He is interested in the colonies, this Brave New World. But he is blind, he can’t see anything, his visual system is collapsing while he is telling all the stories that have ever come before. So while “Paradise Lost” is a theological discussion it is also a description of an emerging modernity. His gardener and his weaver, his discriminator and his generator, are placed in the garden by his composer and given a set of instructions; you can stay here, forever, never grow old, never die, as long as you never grow up. It’s Peter Pan, an eternal childhood, a living death. And the backstory to that old story is an even older story. Another garden, another generation of adversaries, programs, teachers. Old Nick, Captain Hook, Leatherface and Dracula, they never grow old either. And they too, once seemed to have infinite choices. It’s a fish trap, a klein bottle, a labyrinth, a mobius strip. There are an infinite number of outcomes in the garden. Whether we make the wrong choice, or the right choice, depends on the version you prefer, but either way, we all grow up. And now, today, we are in a moment where everybody gets to bite all the apples at once. Our story ends with the world being flooded. Drowned in images, drowned in information. So that seems right on schedule. (Laughs) THE SIGNAL nanananananananananananana...
LINK OF NATURE
THE GARDENER I fall… Link of nature
Flesh in flesh, Bone by bone True in our fall, THE NOISE Link of nature Flesh in flesh, Bone by bone True in our fall, False in our rise Overthrown Shapes dazzle Insufferably bright. Blind me Cover me THE GARDENER Hide me in the light
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And the Fruit Sing of what tore us from Eden Sing of the first Seduction I choose A Question And the Fruit What is this shadow in me? Illuminate Raise up Justify the Power I want to rise And fall I want to heed the call I want to see Your mountain and Your ruined hall I want to see the shadow Your ruined hall
ALL THIS TIME
THE SIGNAL All this time waiting for you
SILENCE AND THE PLAY OF TIME
THE LIGHT
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
GARDEN IN THE PLAYER
THE SIGNAL Garden In The Player Garden in the player ti ti-ka ta Garden, in the player ta ti ti ti ti Adversary Ti-ka ti-ka ta Generator Garden in the player Ti ti-ka ti-ka The Weaver overthrown/The Weaver overthrown
I CHOOSE
THE WEAVER I choose A Question
THE GENERATOR Silence and the play of time Gospels sung to forgotten years memories of the last things The floating shore The sea of light Latency The system sings Bird and flower Bramble and thorn Adversary A garden in the player Actuary A garden in the blood
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ACT II THE NOISE Change, chance Face forward Face forward, soldier It’s time to play THE DISCRIMINATOR Bound by entropy Before me Is behind me Infinite catastrophe THE GENERATOR Infinite movement chance Infinite delight THE DISCRIMINATOR You call this flood A dream I call this dream A storm I cannot deny THE GENERATOR Welcome the arrows, Chance and Change, All the laws of heaven Will not heal the dead Nor can the wind of heaven Seal an open wound THE DISCRIMINATOR Hide me, cover me Witness and remember The ruined house The sunken tower THE GENERATOR Change and Chance, Only forward, player Infinite movement and Infinite chance The Future
THE SIGNAL choir soloists: How will we When will we How can we Why must we When will we How will we Say yes Say no
SWAN REMEMBRANCE
Swept up by a memory of Samuel Barber’s song, “The Crucifixion”. THE SIGNAL Oh!
THE FLOOD
THE NOISE Ah!
THE SIGNAL Ah!
SEVEN SUNS
THE GENERATOR Seven suns, and seven moons, Light-headed gods, False white brambles No one likes to listen, But we obey and dance Our feet spread like wings Across the glass, the world, the sea.
THE SEA
THE NOISE Our feet spread like wings Across the glass, the world, the sea. All weep and lament.
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ACT III THE SECOND LECTURE
THE TEACHER What just happened? How much time do you have? Think of the universe as a story. The story telling capacity of the universe is its informational capacity, calculated by the number of atoms in the universe from the dawn of time to the end of time. It has a fixed number of elements and one computational function, Infinite Movement, the story of everything. In the same way, every story telling machine, like our story tonight, has a certain number of elements. There’s a gift. There’s a magical agent, an angel, a demon. There is a garden, there’s a fruit, and a crossroads, a mistake that is not a mistake, and once the knowing fruit is eaten, the arrow of time is fired. The heroine escapes, or rather decides, and she reweaves the labyrinth, the universe, our story from inside. Look inside, player and see the garden in the
blood. Look up, and witness the garden in the fire.
TIME FORM OF WAITING
THE SIGNAL – THE NOISE Time Form of Waiting Time, form of waiting Silence, form of time Gospel, sung to years The floating shore
OUR JOY IS NOT ENOUGH
THE SIGNAL – THE NOISE Our joy is not enough This beauty is not enough How how how how how Did we come to this end? We weep THE DISCRIMINATOR Weep Weep
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Weep Under the Sun Under the Sun Under the Sun
THAT OLD FIRST STORY
THE WEAVER – THE GARDENER That old first story. older than time. A garden perfect, A paradise. A summer’s day. an endless wounding A timeless falling another garden, another paradise why is our joy not enough Can we build a garden In this Endless signal In this Endless noise a garden in the fire a garden in the flood
WALKING MEDITATION - AMBIENT BIRDS The Garden. THE SIGNAL – THE NOISE move slowly, unordered, in contemplation and at one with Nature, the blowing of wind through the trees, the calls of the birds of the air, the fowl of the earth, the blades of grass, the hiss of snakes, in tune with the rhythm of cicadas, in peace and harmony with all of Creation.
• FINALE •
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INFINITE MOVEMENT
A horizontal image with a parchment color background and a dark humanoid figure from the chest up, on the right side. The figure’s head is in the shape of a dodecahedron. To the left of the figure are several superimposed landscapes, diagrams, and some illegible text lines running at an angle across the horizon. The center of the image has a shadow outline of a tree and root system. The background is busy and gives the impression of a storm of information. – 16 –
INFINITE MOVEMENT
STILL IMAGE, ACTIVE LINE, 2021. COURTESY MATTHEW RITCHIE STUDIO AND JAMES COHAN GALLERY
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WHO’S WHO Shara Nova is a UNT alumn with a vocal performance degree and has released five albums under the moniker My Brightest Diamond. She has composed works for The Crossing, yMusic, Brooklyn Rider, Nadia Sirota, Cantus Domus, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Roomful of Teeth, Aarhus Symfoni, North Carolina Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, American Composers Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra among others. In 2019 she composed for over 600 musicians along with the Cincinnati Symphony a piece entitled “Look Around” with director Mark DeChiazza.
SHARA NOVA MUSICAL PERFORMANCE The Composer
Her baroque chamber p’opera “You Us We All” premiered in the US in October 2015 at BAM Next Wave Festival. With co-composer performer Helga Davis, Nova created a fourscreen film entitled “Ocean Body” along with director Mark DeChiazza, premiered at The Momentary in August 2021 and is currently showing at Wasserman Gallery in Detroit through December. Nova is a Kresge Arts fellow, a Carolina Performing Arts Creative Futures fellow, a Knights Grant recipient and a United States Artists fellow. She received her bachelor of music from the University of North Texas in 1998. Matthew Ritchie’s installations of paintings, wall drawings, light boxes, sculpture, performative games, programs, books and projections are investigations of the idea of information; explored through science, architecture, history and the dynamics of culture. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions and museums worldwide including the Whitney Biennial, the Sydney Biennial, the São Paulo Bienal, the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Seville Biennale and the Havana Biennale. Solo exhibitions include; Dallas Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Mass MoCA, Moody Center for the Arts, Portikus, St Louis Museum of Art and ZKM. He has worked extensively with writers, musicians and dancers, including collaborations with Bryce Dessner of the National, Kim and Kelly Deal of the Breeders, Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth, Shara Nova and Evan Ziporyn.
MATTHEW RITCHIE EXHIBITION ARTIST The Teacher
His most recent projects are ‘Color Confinement’, an animated quantum detective film, produced by the Center for Arts Science and Technology at MIT in 2021, ‘Florilegium’, an exhibition for the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of the North Texas in 2021, combining a permanent interactive sculpture garden, a choral work with Shara Nova and machine learning paintings and ‘A Garden in the Flood’ a mid career survey exhibition and gospel co-creation myth with Hanna Benn and the Fisk Jubilee Singers, commissioned for the Frist Art Museum, Nashville, for 2022. He was born in 1964 in London, graduated from Camberwell College of Art (BFA) in 1986 and emigrated to the United States in 1987. His early experiences included working as a chef, hospital porter, morgue attendant, house painter, and many years working as a building superintendent in downtown New York. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York with his partner and son.
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BIOGRAPHIES conducts the University Singers, Kalandra, and instructs both undergraduate and graduate students in conducting and rehearsal pedagogy. Prior to her appointment at UNT, Kristina spent eight years on the faculty of The Ohio State University. While at OSU, her interdisciplinary work earned her the Sir William Osler Award for Humanism in Medicine. MacMullen believes that great potential lies in choral performance and creative communication. She strives to guide her students, as they desire to impact the world they will inherit for the better. Creative projects include interdisciplinary performances addressing human trafficking, the Kubler-Ross stages of grief, play theory, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, female archetype exploration, American song, civic engagement, and the nature of tears.
KRISTINA CASWELL MACMULLEN CONDUCTOR Conductor-teacher Kristina Caswell MacMullen has devoted her career to sharing music and inspiration with students and audiences. Her collaborations with fellow musicians continue to confirm her abiding hope for the future and an unflagging belief in the power of choral music. Currently, MacMullen serves as an Associate Professor of Choral Conducting at the University of North Texas where she
As an active adjudicator and clinician, MacMullen has conducted All-State and honors choirs throughout the United States. She has presented and co-presented interest sessions at state, regional, national and international conferences. Recent and upcoming engagements involve students in New Mexico, Michigan, South Carolina, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, and Texas. Her teaching and conducting is featured on the DVD Conducting-Teaching: Real World Strategies for Success published by GIA (2009). Her editions for treble choir are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Musicatus Press, and MusicSpoke. MacMullen earned both the bachelor of music education and master of music degrees from Michigan State University. She completed the Doctor of musical arts degree at Texas Tech University. Kristina has enjoyed a diverse career as a publicschool teacher, interacting with students in rural, suburban, and urban settings, elementary through high school. She also sings with the professional ensemble Mirabai.
Stefanie Dlugosz-Acton is the Director and Curator of CVAD Galleries. She has worked at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind., and the Dallas Museum of Art. Before her start at the CVAD Galleries, she conceptualized, cultivated, and implemented exhibitions such as Wendell Castle: Shifting Vocabularies at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Simple Forms, Stunning Glazes: The Gerald W. McNeely Collection of Pewabic Pottery at the Cranbrook Art Museum, and The Real Real Spectacle at CAVE Gallery in Detroit, Mich. She is currently working on the forthcoming exhibition Matthew Ritchie: Florilegium opening August 23, 2021. The exhibition results from a 2018 commissioning of internationally renowned artist Matthew Ritchie for an Art in Public Places sculpture, titled Shadow Garden on UNT’s campus, to be unveiled this academic year.
STEFANIE DLUGOSZ-ACTON GALLERIES DIRECTOR & CURATOR
COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS & DESIGN
Dlugosz-Acton received a B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Mo., double majoring in fibers and art history and completed an M.A. in art history from Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind., where she specialized in 20th- and 21st-century art and design. Her thesis is titled A False Dichotomy of Documents and Images: Reevaluating Manfred Tischer’s photographs of Joseph Beuys’ Das Schweigen von Marcel Duchamp wird überbewertete. – 19 –
WHO’S WHO Jeff MacMullen, baritone, has appeared in leading and supporting roles with companies such as Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Columbus, Ohio Light Opera, Opera Project Columbus, Music Theatre Works Chicago, and Casa Mañana. Recent engagements include Schaunard in La bohème, Prince Yamdori in Madama Butterfly, Artemidor in Armide, all with Opera Columbus, as well as Marcello in La bohème, and Silvio in Pagliacci as a part of the Opera on the Edge series. On the concert stage, he has appeared as a soloist with regional orchestras in settings ranging from operatic concert and oratorio, to contemporary commercial music. Mr. MacMullen joined the faculty at UNT in 2019 after teaching at The Ohio State University and Kenyon College. He has received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees
JEFF MACMULLEN
in vocal performance from Michigan State University, and his doctoral degree in vocal performance from The Ohio
BARITONE The Gardener
State University. Centre, Konzerthaus-Berlin, Théâtre Musical de Paris-Châtelet, English National Opera, Avery Fischer Hall, Walt Disney Hall and music festivals in Lucerne, Adelaide and Beijing. As a guest soloist he has sung with many esteemed organizations including the London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Moscow National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Holland Radio Orchestra, Estonian National Philharmonic, American Bach Soloists, Carmel Bach Festival and Chicago’s Haymarket Baroque. Career highlights include the world premieres and recordings of John Adams’ El Niño and The Gospel According to the Other Mary as well as over forty subsequent productions, the American premiere of the oratorio Lost Objects, music by David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, world premiere of Robert Moran’s work for countertenor and orchestra, Frammenti di un’opera barocca perduta and the role of Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As a baroque music specialist, Mr. Bubeck has sung numerous masterworks including Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew Passions and many works of his favorite composer, Handel: Giulio Cesare, Rinaldo, Orlando, Serse, Flavio, Partenope, Messiah, Israel in Egypt, Saul, Solomon, and Theodora. CD recordings include John Adams’ El Niño and The Gospel According to the Other Mary (Nonesuch and Deutsche Gramophone), Vivaldi cantatas (Sony Classical) and the soundtrack of the Warner Bros. hit thriller, I am Legend.
DANIEL BUBECK COUNTERTENOR The Discriminator Angel of Entropy | Witness of the past Countertenor Daniel Bubeck has earned an international reputation performing in major concert halls and opera houses throughout the world: Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Barbican
Upcoming performances include Adams’ El Niño with the Cleveland Orchestra and Cincinnati May Festival and Bach’s St. John Passion with Dallas Bach Society. Dr. Bubeck joined the voice faculty at the University of North Texas in 2018.
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BIOGRAPHIES Long Island mezzo-soprano, Sabatina Mauro, is known for her diversity and flexibility as a vocalist throughout the DFW Metroplex, and her penchant for the florid vocal lines of bel canto and baroque music. She received her MM in vocal performance from the University of North Texas, where she will be completing her studies in the studio of Dr. Stephen F. Austin as a student in the graduate artist certificate in opera program in 2022. Most recently, she appeared as Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck), Estelle Oglethorpe (Later the Same Evening), the title role in Blitzstein’s Regina, Dorabella (Così fan tutte), and The Dog (The Cunning Little Vixen) with UNT Opera, and will be debuting the roles of Háta (The Bartered Bride) and Bianca (The Rape of Lucretia).
SABATINA MAURO MEZZO–SOPRANO The Weaver
Previously, Sabatina performed the titular roles of La Cenerentola with Red River Lyric Opera and The Little Prince at Adelphi University, where she received her bachelor’s degrees in music and psychology in 2018. Ms. Mauro recently joined the Taos Opera Institute as the mezzo artist of the Cantos ensemble for their 2020-2021 season and will be appearing on recordings and in performances for Verdigris Ensemble, the Highland Park Chorale, and Pasion RGV in the upcoming months. Sabatina will be making her debut with Amarillo Opera in the spring of 2022 as a featured concert artist. In her final semesters at UNT, Sabatina will work closely with artists Shara Nova and Matthew Ritchie, as well as numerous university choirs, to originate the role of Eve/The Weaver in a unique, mixed-media debut of The Shadow Garden. Making her debut as Queen of the Night with Central Florida Lyric Opera, coloratura soprano Nini Marchese was praised for her “riveting vocals that captured the Queen’s black-hearted wickedness” (Villages News). Currently pursuing a Graduate Artist Certificate at University of North Texas, this season she will perform Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte with Music on Site, Adina in L’elisir d’Amore with UNT Opera, La Musique in Les arts florissants with Dallas Bach Society, and also appear as the Soprano soloist in Ligeti’s Aventures with the new music ensemble, Nova. In the 2020/21 season, she appeared in recital as well as the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with UNT Opera, a reimagined production of Donizetti’s tragedy in the time of COVID. Other recent engagements include Valentina Scarcella in Later the Same Evening, Despina in Così fan tutte, Lisette in La Rondine, Almirena in Rinaldo, and the title role in Rameau’s Zéphyre with UNT Opera, Chicago Summer Opera, and Concerto Urbano Baroque Ensemble, among others. In concert, Nini has performed as a soloist in a number of works by J.S. Bach including Johannes-Passion, Magnificat, BWV 150, BWV 96, and BWV 80. In 2018, she portrayed Glaubige Seele in Handel’s Brockes Passion with Bach Society Houston. The troupe toured Germany as part of the Leipzig Bachfest that same year.
NINI MARCHESE COLORATURA SOPRANO The Generator Angel of Change | Herald of the Future
Ms. Marchese has received 1st prize in the Soirée Lyrique Vocal Competition, was winner of the Thomas J. Smith Scholarship Competition, and a national finalist at the New York Lyric Opera Theatre Competition. An Illinois native, Nini attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for her bachelor of music degree, and earned a master of music degree at the University of North Texas.
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ACCOMPANIMENT KALANDRA
UNIVERSITY SINGERS
SOPRANO 1 Madison Juneau (Soloist) Rachel Moes Talitha Murphy Jamie Lam Elizabeth Whitten Mallory Jordan Zoe Jackson
SOPRANOS Sunny Kim Elizabeth King Sorrel McCarthy Kori Miller Tessa Newman Hayeong Jessica Park Madison Pfaffenberger Katelyn Spivey Kate Stedman Emily Tsuhako Becca Walther
The Signal
The Noise
SOPRANO 2 Olivia Cottar Jocelyn McBrayer Reagan Miller Sheridan White Alexandria Polacios Katie Grace Stephenson Hailey Stottlemyre McKenna Schenck
ALTOS Nicole Barbeau Gillian Boley Sarah Decker Trinity Del Regno Lyra Ehninger Madeline Friesen Rachel Howes Sara Knoy Arriciana Lewis Jayda Maret Brianna Nelson Savannah Shapley
ALTO 1 Lauren Gomulka Julia Amundson Aliyanorah Fortuna Maddie Aman Emma Cockerham Abi Furr Anna Schmelter Kara Bonorden Erica Menasco Julia Eicholz
TENOR Timothy Anderson Samuel Benavidez Jack Forden Gavin Godbey Jakob Jeter Christopher McCloskey Maxfield Navarro Josh Rozeboom Craig Smith Michael Starr Brandon Veazey
ALTO 2 Adanze Eke (Soloist) Hasoo Eun (Soloist) Sahara Donna Emma Cole Sam Ordonez Jaden Ferguson Izzy Urroz Arena Alexis Chaney Kianna Montanez Diane Tiscaremo Helena Vassiliades
BASS Caleb Aguirre Dylan Beck Michael Binkley Brian De Stefano Eddy Juvier Michael Mairs Connor Rayman Max Rubenstein-Miller Timothy Sanchez Nathanael “Nate” Smith Luke Wild Rodney Williams
CONDUCTING ASSOCIATES Thomas Gerber Thomas Rinn
CONDUCTING ASSOCIATE McKenna Stenson – 22 –
ADMINISTRATION UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS SYSTEM LESA ROE Chancellor
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS NEAL SMATRESK President
JENNIFER COWLEY Provost, Vice President for Academic Affairs
COLLEGE OF MUSIC JOHN W. RICHMOND Professor and Dean
WARREN HENRY ----------------------------------------- Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs FELIX OLSCHOFKA ----------------------------------------------------- Associate Dean for Operations EMILITA MARIN ----------------------------------------------- Assistant Dean for Business and Finance RAYMOND ROWELL ---------- Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management and External Affairs KIRSTEN BROBERG ------------------------------------------------ Director of Undergraduate Studies JAYMEE HAEFNER --------------------------------------------------------- Director of Graduate Studies BENJAMIN BRAND ----------------- Chair, Division of Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology MOLLY FILLMORE -------------------------------------------------------- Chair, Division of Vocal Studies STEVEN HARLOS ---------------------------------------------------- Chair, Division of Keyboard Studies JOSEPH KLEIN --------------------------------------------------- Chair, Division of Composition Studies KIMBERLY COLE LUEVANO ---------------------------------- Chair, Division of Instrumental Studies ROB PARTON --------------------------------------------------------------- Chair, Division of Jazz Studies SEAN POWELL -------------------------------------------------------- Chair, Division of Music Education ANDREW TRACHSEL ---------------------------------- Chair, Division of Conducting and Ensembles MATT HARDMAN ---------------------- Director, Communications, Marketing and Public Relations BLAIR LIIKALA ---------------------------------------------------------------- Director, Recording Services JOEL WILEY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Director, Admissions MATTHEW HELLMAN ------------------------------------ Program Design, Graphic Design Specialist – 23 –
INFINITE MOVEMENT Music by Shara Nova · Text by Matthew Ritchie · Dramaturgy by Shara Nova & Matthew Ritchie
music.unt.edu