Sarong Song film premiere, Saturday, September 17, 2022 1 pm EST

The premiere of Sarong Song, my short film made in conjunction with Positive Note Films in the UK, will premiere September 17, 2022 at 1 pm EST at the following YouTube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDWBcvC1GgM

The film will remain up at the link after the premiere. 

Sarong Song is song #2 of The Soul Fox, a song cycle I composed in 2013 to a poem by David Mason, my frequent collaborator. The cycle set Mason’s autobiographical poems to create a narrative about the upheaval in Dave’s life as his second marriage dissolved. This song seizes on the moment Dave from Colorado met Chrissy from Tasmania — and her mesmerizing effect on him, which later resulted in their marriage and move to Tasmania.

The film alternates between a superb performance of the song by mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately and pianist Simon Lepper and slow animation created from famed illustrator Ian Beck's custom watercolors. The musical blending of these elements by director Jeremy Hamway-Bidgood creates a new kind of film — a hybrid presentation of classical song, poetry, and original art. 

The Scarlet Letter at Wichita State University April 8-9, 2022

Wichita State University Opera Theater, under the direction of Alan Held, along with The Wichita State University Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Mark Laycock, will present the Kansas premiere of The Scarlet Letter, my opera with David Mason on April 8-9, 2022. The opera is based on the classic tale by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The opera was commissioned in 2007 by The University of Central Arkansas, who premiered it in 2008. After extensive revisions, Opera Colorado presented the professional premiere in 2016, and the subsequent Naxos release received critical acclaim. It was named one of the top 5 CDs of 2018 by Fanfare Magazine, a Critic's Choice by Opera News, and Gramophone wrote: The first thing that leaps into one's ears is the sheer beauty of the music. Laitman has devoted much of her career to the art song, and her ability to meld words with lyrical, often soaring lines is on abundant display in her opera. 

For more information about the Wichita production, please click here.

For more information about the opera itself, please email lori@artsongs.com.

Indianapolis Opera to present Vedem with Krasa's Brundibar

Indianapolis Opera is presenting a double bill of Vedem, my Holocaust oratorio with David Mason with Hans Krasa's Brundibar this March 18-20, 2022. 

Vedem was commissioned and premiered in 2010 by Music of Remembrance. The work tells the story of the boys of Terezin and their secret magazine, Vedem (Czech for "In the Lead"). This unique double bill enfolds Krasa's Brundibar within Vedem's story.

Vedem is the first piece composed by a female composer to be performed with Indianapolis Opera. Click here for an article about this historic production. And for more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

Indianapolis Opera to present Vedem with Brundibar in April 2020

UPDATE: This production will be postponed to spring 2021, due to the Coronavirus. Indianapolis Opera will present a semi-staged version of my Holocaust-themed oratorio Vedem in a double bill with Hans Krasa's Brundibar from April 24-26, 2020. Vedem tells the story of the boys imprisoned in the infamous Terezin Concentration Camp during WWII, and their secret magazine entitled Vedem (Czech for "in the Lead"). All 800 pages of the magazine were buried by the last remaining child at Terezin — Sidney Taussig —  who retrieved the papers after the war. This treasure trove gives us an unvarnished glimpse into the daily lives of the boys. My long-time collaborator, poet David Mason, wrote the libretto and entwined six of the original Vedem poems within. The work is scored for boychoir, tenor and mezzo-soprano soloists, accompanied by an instrumental quartet comprised of clarinet, violin, cello and piano.

This production marks several firsts for Indianapolis Opera: Vedem is the first piece by a woman composer to be performed by their company, and the production marks the first mainstage collaboration between the opera company and the Indianapolis Children's Choir.

The oratorio was commissioned by Mina Miller and Music of Remembrance and premiered in May 2010. Four of the then-six survivors traveled to Seattle for the premiere. Naxos released the CD in May 2011, and Fanfare Magazine wrote: "A most touching experience, and one that further confirms Laitman's status as one of the most talented and intriguing of living composers."

For more information, please click here.