The Decameron Opera Coalition will present the world premiere of “Heroes” on Friday October 1, 2021.
The company will release eight world premieres in three episodes with “Hero Songs” by composer Peter Hilliard and librettist Matt Boresi framing the other three episodes. “Hero Songs” will feature Karen Slack alongside Tesia Kwarteng, Javier Abreu and John Castillo.
The first episode is titled “Answering the Call” and features “The Place” by Maria Thompson Corley and Sandra Oyinloye, created by Lyric Opera of the North in Duluth Minnesota; “Letter to Our Children” by Justine F. Chen and Jacqueline Goldfinger, created by Resonance Works of Pittsburgh; “Unsung Activist” by Steve Wallace, premiered by Opera in the Heights from Houston, Texas.
Episode two, “The Long Arc,” will feature “Sacajawea: Woman of Many Names” from North Dakota’s Fargo-Moorehead opera by Dawn Avery and Blake Hill-Saya and “The Widow’s Will” from the Chicago opera Fringe by Elizabeth Rudolph and Bilal Dardai.
Finally, episode three, “Sustenance”, will feature “Home Cooked Heroes” from the Milwaukee Opera Theater by Brit Nicole and Ms. Lotus Fankh as well as “Heroes of New York” from the New York Bare Opera by Dina Pruzhansky and Briana Hunter.
There will also be Episode evenings allowing the public to interact virtually with the artists. Episode one will be celebrated on October 3 and episode two on October 5. The final night of the episode, highlighting episode three, is slated for October 7.
