For over two years now I've been working with cellist/actor Aaron Wolff on a new hour long one-man opera for vocalizing cellist and electronics – The INcomplete Cosmicomics. I met Aaron at the same time that I started reading already beloved Italian writer Italo Calvino's collection of short stories, The Complete Cosmicomics, and immediately had a vision for a piece in which Aaron would embody the mystical entity Qfwfq. Aaron has the most gorgeous sound on the cello you've ever heard, a background in acting, a lovely voice, love of literature, and a BOSS RC-300 looping station that he wanted to use. He asked me for a piece, and was game for this.
If you're wondering how to pronounce "Qfwfq" – you will have to see the piece to hear my take. This is a non-adaptation in which Qfwfq regales brand new stories, grapples with his relationship with Calvino, reflects on his constant state of yearning for various female love interests throughout the Calvino stories, and ultimately turns inward in a quest to break the loops of his countless lives. If you haven't read Calvino, don't fret. And if you have read Calvino, don't expect to follow along in a linear fashion.
Experiments in Opera is producing The INcomplete Cosmicomics on a double bill of new SOLOperas directed by Shannon Sindelar, alongside Jason Cady's This Is Not About Natalie for solo singer with a ventriloquist doll and guitar. SOLOperas is running in NYC at The Tank (312 W 36th St) from March 20-22 at 7 PM, tickets start at $18. If this speaks to you, I'd really love for you to come to the show. In fantastic news, tickets are nearly sold-out for the 20 (there are 4/98 left) and getting close to it for the 21. If you'd like to see it, tickets are still available for all shows right now and can be purchased here.
I want to share what Calvino wrote in his final (and incomplete) series of lectures, Six Memos for the Next Millennium, regarding his writing process for The Complete Cosmicomics:
"We thus find ourselves in one of those situations where the image is determined by a preexisting written text (a page or a single phrase I come across in my reading), and the resulting imaginative course might follow the spirit of that text or might take a completely independent path...In short, my method tries to join the spontaneous generation of images to the intentionality of logical thought." (p. 110)
Throughout the Memos, Calvino writes at length about his literary influences and his position of imagination "as identification with world soul." In The Complete Cosmicomics anthology you'll find Calvino's postmodern pastiche of Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. You don't need to know Dumas' novel to appreciate Calvino's story, and you certainly won't confuse the two. But there's a reason that Calvino connected himself to the Château d'If, to the characters, to Dumas. This is the spirit of The INcomplete Cosmicomics.
Here is the official event info:
SOLOperas is a double feature of new operas for solo performers. The two premieres will be performed back to back in a seamless evening of music and theater.
The INcomplete Cosmicomics
The INcomplete Cosmicomics is a stand-alone opera by composer/writer Anna Heflin for vocalizing cellist/actor and electronics in which author Italo Calvino’s mystical entity Qfwfq continues his journey. After being stuck in a void for thousands of years with only a cello and a looper, the incongruous and multifaceted Qfwfq comes to life. Upon exiting the void, he faces a choice: he can either explode into existence as all beings or end linear time. Inspired by Calvino’s The Complete Cosmicomics, Heflin’s work is an original creation in which Qfwfq takes the reins of his own narrative. Equipped with a sharp sense of humor and sensuality, Qfwfq ruminates, charms and hypnotizes in his quest to break the loops of life.
The work showcases Juilliard-educated cellist Aaron Wolff as Qfwfq, whose acting credits include Danny Gopnik in the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man.
If you haven't read Calvino, don't fret. Everyone will be thrown equally into the void in this new non-adaptation.
This Is Not About Natalie
This is Not About Natalie is a one-act opera with words and music by Jason Cady. It features a solo singer with a ventriloquist doll and guitar. She portrays a songwriter who uploads a new, original song everyday to Youtube and introduces each song in dialogue with her puppet. She was formerly one half of the underground duo, “Kris and Natalie.” Her former partner, Natalie, went on to become a famous popstar. But this is not about her.
Sarah Daniels, soprano and guitar, stars in this one-woman opera.
SOLOperas PRODUCTION TEAM
Krista Intranuovo Pineman: Costume Designer
Erin Grey: Production Stage Manager
Travis Just Sound: Engineer
Celia Krefter: Lighting Designer
Benjamin Papac: Production Assistant
Jeff Cook: Pre-production Sound Engineer
Dmitry Glivinskiy: Vocal Coaching
