Matt Boresi and Creating in Covid Times

We start out this episode with a short quip from Mezzo-soprano, Emily Fons, talking about not waiting for the ideal moment to create.  (https://www.emilyfons.com/).

Next, is a brief interview with San Francisco based conductor and prompter, Robert Mollicone (https://www.robertmollicone.com/).  We discuss the ending of Offenbach and Barbier’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and how it relates to the paralysis so many artists have felt while trying to navigate the pandemic.  For more information about Offenbach’s opera, check out this Britannica entry: https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Tales-of-Hoffmann/Setting-and-story-summary

The major interview of the episode is with librettist, Matt Boresi, who writes most often with composer, Peter Hilliard.  (https://www.hilliardandboresi.com/#home-section). We discuss the nature of comedy in opera, as well as making opera during the pandemic, at which he and Peter have been hard at work, both with Verdi by Vegetables (https://www.resonanceworks.org/verdi-by-vegetables) and The Decameron Opera Coalition (https://decameronoperacoalition.org/).

Here are some links to other productions, people, and organizations mentioned in this episode:

•Don Imbroglio with Beth Morrison Projects: https://www.bethmorrisonprojects.org/don-imbroglio
•The Filthy Habit at Urban Arias: https://www.urbanarias.org/the-filthy-habit/
•Victorian Toy Theater: https://craftsmanship.net/the-rise-and-fall-of-toy-theatre/
•Great Small Works: https://greatsmallworks.org/index.html
•The Last American Hammer: https://www.urbanarias.org/lastamericanhammer/
•The American Toby Jug Museum: https://www.tobyjugmuseum.com/
•Blue Viola : https://www.urbanarias.org/blue_viola/