SEPTEMBER 28 - October 1, 2017
TESLA
Multidisciplinary opera about the extraordinary life of visionary Nikola Tesla
"CONNECTING HUMANITY TO THE VERY WHEELWORK OF NATURE"
“BEST NEW WORKS 2017” South Florida Classical Review
"TESLA'S LAB" Act 1 Scene 7
PRE-PRODUCTION TRAILER INTRODUCTION
A huge thank you to our world premiere sponsors:
About the opera:
Nikola Tesla was an immigrant, from Serbo/Croatia, whose transformative ideas challenged staid society, inherited wealth, and power structure of the Gilded Age. It brings to life the revolutionary race with Thomas Edison to fuel a new era of electricity, and the portentous aftermath: from the peak of worldly renown, Nikola Tesla pursues relentless dreams of tapping natural forces that could further liberate mankind, but instead lead to his early demise. A true visionary, Tesla gave away a vast number of his patents that were fossil fuel-consuming, and pursued the Tesla Coil to connect humanity to the very wheelwork of nature and allow the extraction of free and non-polluting energy for all. A friend of Mark Twain (our narrator), and a peer of Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse and J.P. Morgan (characters in the opera) he nonetheless died a pauper, crushed by the greed and hunger for power of his contemporaries.
Tesla's radical visions of scientific potential, and capitalist reform, which led to his rise as well as his downfall, resonate even more powerfully in the 21st century.
Media contact Jessica at JWIPR 1-305-456-0483
World Premiere location:
In the News:
Opera Betty on WOMR Cape Cod, TESLA, New Radio Show - LISTEN February 2018
Sun Sentinel - Showtime. Opera tells tale of unknown inventor “Tesla” September 29, 2017
NPR (WLRN) Radio, Composer Says Tesla's Life Makes For Electrifying Opera - LISTEN September 2017
South Florida Classical Review BEST NEW WORKS 2017 December 19, 2017
WLRN NPR Radio, Composer Says Tesla's Life Makes For Electrifying Opera - LISTEN September 2017
Palm Beach Arts paper TESLA makes strong impression in premiere October 14, 2017
Miami Clásica TESLA, CONTRA VIENTO Y MAREA October 2017
South Florida Classical Review TESLA gets a high-voltage premiere (review) Sept. 2017
The CW, Inside South Florida: TESLA Comes to Town (Video)October 2017
South Florida Classical Review, TESLA listed as number 1 critics' choice of the season! August 2017
Miami New Times, Three Decades in the Making, Tesla Finally Debuts at Colony Theatre September 2017
New York Style Guide, THE WORLD PREMIERE OF TESLA September 2017
StageBuddy, Interview: Kenneth Mattice and Anastasia Malliaras on the World Premiere of ‘TESLA’ September 2017
Palm Beach Arts Paper, New opera salutes Tesla, tragic scientific hero September 2017
SouthFlorida.com, An overlooked inventor gets a musical tribute in Miami Beach September 2017
Florida Music Letter. SoBe Arts Tells Story Of Tesla September 2017
Agencia EFE, Miami acoge el estreno mundial de la ópera sobre Tesla creada hace tres décadas September 2017
Miami New Times, TESLA / Colony Theatre / Adult, Opera, Theater August 2017
El Teatro. Miami Hosts World Premiere of Opera on Tesla September 2017
Miami Art Zine, "Talking With Carson Kievman -What Does It Take To Create An Original Opera?" June 2017
OPERAWire, "'TESLA' Opera to Make World Premiere This Fall" August 20
OPERAWire, "‘TESLA’ Opera Seeking Finishing Funds" May 2017
La ConexionUSA. Miami hosts World Premiere of opera about TESLA created three decades ago September 20
SoBe Arts Press E-blast, "WE ARE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THE EXTRAORDINARY CAST & CREATIVE TEAM FOR TESLA!" June 2017
SoBe Arts Press Release, "SoBe Arts presents the World Premiere of TESLA" July 2017
SoBe Arts Press E-blast, "Tickets, HD Streaming & New Website" August 2017
World Premiere
Thurs. September 28 - Sunday October 1, 2017
THE COLONY THEATRE MIAMI BEACH
CREATIVE TEAM
Carson Kievman, Composer
Thomas Babe & Carson Kievman, Librettists
(with Mark David Needle)
Stage Director, Jeffrey Marc Buchman / Music Director, Mary Adelyn Kauffman / Projection Design, Paul DiPierro / Choreographer, Rosa Mercedes / Scenic Designer, Stephan Moravski / Costume Design, Nuria Carrasco Domingez / Lighting Design, Jeffrey Bruckerhoff / Stage Manager, Bryce Bullock / Makeup & Wigs, Emily Malin / Recording & HD Streaming Christopher Kievman & Bruce Yarock / Assistant Music Director & Vocal Coach, Jared Peroune
CAST
Timothy Stoddard, tenor as George Westinghouse / Trevor Martin, baritone as Mark Twain / Kenneth Mattice, baritone as Nikola Tesla / Chris Vettel, baritone as Thomas Alva Edison / Anastasia Malliaras, soprano as Marie Astor Hampton / Emily Solo, soprano as Tommie (aka Huckleberry) / Courtney Miller, mezzo soprano as Mrs. Mina Miller Edison / Ben Werley, tenor as Charles Proteus Steinmetz / Kyle Albertson, bass-baritone as JP Morgan
VOCAL ENSEMBLE
Yvette Loynaz, Soprano 1 / Courtney Miller, Soprano 2/A1 / Linsey Coppins, Alto / Mauricio Villanueva, Tenor / William Lee Bryan, Baritone / Ardean Landhuis, Bass
[All playing various roles: Tommie's father, cops, waiters, workers, diners, etc.]
SOBE ARTS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Conductor, Mary Adelyn Kauffman / Flute, Phil Bracken-Tripp / Oboes/English Horn, Jim Drayton & Joey Wenda / Bb Clar./Bass Clarinet, Carlos Ortega & Christine Pascual-Fernande / Bassoon, Jordan Bidwell / French Horn, Matthew Marshall / Trumpet, Matthew Shefcik / Trombone, John Kricker / Tuba, Calvin Jenkins / Percussion, Lucas Sanchez & Terrell Moss / Piano, Chris Toth / Violins 1, Sasha Zuk & Charles Hardt & Ludek Wojtkowski/ Violins 2, Karen Lord, Abby Young, Chelsea Sharpe / Violas, Caroline Buse & Priscille Michel / Cellos, Blake-Anthony Johnson & Brent Charran / Bass, Michael Fuller
“In an era when recurrent storms and climate change are very much in the news, Tesla’s story takes on new relevance”
“An impressive piece, written commitment and performed and produced with excellence from top to bottom. And it also has a quality that gives the most engaging art its urgency: Relevance””
“The premiere of TESLA - in every sense “against all odds” as Hurricane Irma made its own and almost prevented it - marks a milestone in the composer’s career, and a new opera in the panorama that deserved to be considered beyond review and synthesis that seem imperative.”
“Carson Kievman has created a series of music theater works that push the boundaries between opera, dance, drama and spectacle.
The music and drama flow organically and effectively.”
Moishe Mana, Horowitz Family Foundation, Firestone Family Foundation, Melvin & Ryna Cohen Foundation, Robert Fitzpatrick
Catarina Schade
John Debney
Habachnah
Christopher Kievman
Benjamin Barnes
Robert Chumbley
Carlos Castañada Jr.
Robin Rosenblum
David Arden
Shirley Irek
Troy Webdell
R K
Jane Reid
Stanley Fried
Charles Million
Jack & Marsha Firestone
John and Juliana Yaffé
Richard Wills
Mark Samuelian
Tracey Rishty
Ed Zschau
Susan Solinsky
Michele Talka
Laurie Spiegel
Cherie Banks Meyers
K Jasimos
Ivona Shedroff
L Crosby Garcia
Diana Marie Bianchi
Steve Robinson
Milana Strezeva
Alexandra Skoczylas
Kevin C Moore
Isabel Salazar
C B Blades
Mansond
David Sieber
Betheena
Hayley Kievman
Yana Eminova
David Brown
Susan Clary
Ana M Vidal
Deborah P Briggs
Aviya Kopelman
Richard Green
Dennis Bathory-Kitsz
Kenneth Mattice
Estela Romand
Maria Angelica Gonzalez
David Simons
Elizabeth Caton
Carol Nicholson
Thomas Loewy
Rivet Nation
Moritz Eggert
Peter Jonas
Timur Bekbosunov
Donna Mann
Morgan Gelfand
SoBe Arts production of TESLA was sponsored in part by The City of Miami Beach and the Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, The Horowitz Family Foundation, The Melvin & Ryna Cohen Foundation, The Firestone Family Foundation, Robert Fitzpatrick, and in partnership with The Colony Theater Miami Beach and The Betsy - South Beach, plus individual donor/friends directly and by way of Kickstarter and Indiegogo.