CHICAGO FRINGE OPER ASoprano......................................Alex Salas*

Mezzo-Soprano................Bridget Skaggs†

Hera.......................................Claire DiVizio*

Echo.............................................Leigh Folta

Narcissus...........................Jonathan Zeng†

Dancer........................................Enid Smith*

Echo Cover..........................Laura Smalley†

Narcissus Cover............Maximiliano Illanes

LOVE WOUNDS

A COLLECTION OF WORKS BY CHRISTOPHER CERRONE

LATITUDE 49Cello..........................................Max Geissler

Saxophones..................................Andy Hall

Clarinets.................................Andy Hudson

Piano.........................................Jani Parsons

Percussion......................................Chris Sies

Violin...................................Timothy Steeves

ARTISTIC TEAMMusic Director................................................................................Catherine O’Shaughnessy†

Stage Director.........................................................................................Susan Payne O’Brien*

Production Designer............................................................................................Sarah Bendix*

Lighting Designer................................................................................................Becca Jeffords

Stage Manager.....................................................................................................Shelby Krarup

Technical Director............................................................................................Ted Nazarowski†

* CHICAGO FRINGE OPERA DEBUT † CHICAGO FRINGE OPERA COMPANY MEMBER

2 HOURS WITH INTERMISSIONVIEW AN EXTENDED PROGRAM AT: CHICAGOFRINGEOPERA.COM/PROGRAM

A special thanks to our production sponsor – John Bierbusse.This project is funded in part by the following partners:

PROGR AMDouble Happiness .....................................................................................Latitude 49 2012, arranged in 2016, commissioned by Jani Parsons and Chris Sies

I. Self Portrait Part I II. Interlude IIII. Self Portrait Part IIIV. Interlude IIV. New Year’s Song (for Sarah)

I Will Learn to Love a Person......................................................................Alex Salas 2013, on poetry by Tao Lin

I. That night with the green skyII. Eleven-page poem, page threeIII. I will learn to love a person and then I will teach you and then we will knowIV. When I leave this placeV. Are you okay?

Sonata for Violin and Piano.....................................................................Latitude 49 2015

I. Fast and focused with gradually increasing intensity

The Naomi Songs.................................................................................Bridget Skaggs 2015, on text by Bill Knott

I. The BeachII. I LeftIII. When Our Hands Are AloneIV. What Language Will Be Safe?

INTERMISSION

WORLD PREMIERE

Why Was I Born Between Mirrors?............................................................Latitude 49 Co-commissioned by Latitude 49, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and Sentieri Selvaggi

All Wounds Bleed: An Opera in One Act 2011, orchestrated in 2019, libretto by Tony Asaro

Co-comission by Latitude 49 and Chicago Fringe Opera

Latitude 49

Latitude 49

COMPOSER’S NOTECHRISTOPHER CERRONE

This program features six works about love — love lost, love found, distant love, difficult love, doomed love, and love lost in translation. On one level, it came as a surprise to me that I have so many works on this topic. On another, it wasn’t. After all, isn’t art about understanding ourselves and others on the most fundamental level? And isn’t that what love is all about, whether communicated through text message or ancient myth?

In each of these works, I brought to musical life the words of an author. In choosing to interpret their words, they became a vessel for my own emotions. This process continues with Chicago Fringe Opera and Latitude 49, who, by performing, staging, and dancing my music, it becomes a vessel for their own feelings. One of the joys of being a composer is that each performance brings a new facet of the work to light. These results are only multiplied when these works are staged, sung, and danced.

In music, we often use the word ‘color’ to describe timbre. It’s a word that’s so common to us musicians that I often forget we’ve stolen it from the visual arts. I’m so glad that Susan Payne O’Brien, both a musician and director, would so keenly understand the connection between these kinds of color, and how it’s color that unifies this performance.

All music making is pointless if not also an act of friendship, so I want to thank my old friends in Latitude 49 and new ones in Chicago Fringe Opera for their herculean efforts in making this show possible.

DIREC TOR’S NOTESUSAN PAYNE O’BRIEN

The six pieces that make up this performance of Love Wounds offer audience and player the space to engage the quiet or violent internal spaces where we hold love and the wounds it has left. The circle of the ceiling is left open, inviting the audience into these intimate moments. From the singularly millennial experience of longing for someone by the lonely light of a computer to the mythic loss of loving someone lost inside their own image, we are less alone when we hold the wounds of others inside our listening. Christopher Cerrone’s music demands that the instrumentalists engage choreographically with the space; hands inside a piano a violin played with violent repetition, a wind instrument played so that the beauty of breath and release is audible. It is for this reason we have placed instrumentalists, dancers and singers together in a shared space. This is the fringe of opera, and opera, at its best. A place where dancer, instrumentalist, and vocalist are all encountered as visceral storytellers and where the intimacy of their collective engagement is the true spectacle of the form.

PERFORMERS

CLAIRE DIVIZIO

ANDY HALL

LEIGH FOLTA

ANDY HUDSON

MAX GEISSLERHERA

SAXOPHONES

CHRIS SIESPERCUSSION

ENID SMITHDANCER

CATHERINE O’SHAUGHNESSYCONDUCTOR

JANI PARSONSPIANO

ECHO

CLARINETS

BRIDGET SKAGGSMEZZO SOPRANO SOLOIST

TIMOTHY STEEVESVIOLIN

CELLO

JONATHAN ZENGNARCISSUS

ALEX SALASSOPRANO SOLOIST

READ THE BIOS OF OUR WONDERFUL DESIGNERS, ARTISTIC TEAM, CREW, AND CAST ONLINE AT:

CHICAGOFRINGEOPERA.COM/PROGRAM

CHICAGO FRINGE OPERA

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Lagunitas Brewing

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$1,000+

John Bierbusse

Patricia McMillen

Tomas Hazinski and Barbara Smith

Mark, Joan and Stephen Walker

$500-$999

George Cederquist

William Cederquist

Matthew Godfrey

Richard and Virginia Hardin

Daniel Reid in memeory of Robert Scarlett

Jennifer Tobin and Mark Woodford

Dean Yannias

$250-$499

Jack Cederquist and Meg Kennedy Shaw

Charles Cooney

Darwin Corrin

Toni Dorfman and John Gaddis

Ashley Miller

$100-$249

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Barbara and John Eckel

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Sheetal and Jon Heinert

Linda Karn

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Elizabeth Manning

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Marc Alon Embree

John Empfield

BJ and Kirsty Engelhardt

Stephen Feerick

Thomas Feerick

Elizabeth Freeland

Kristi and Paul French

Lucas Goldbach

Kurt Hansen

Chris and Amy Hardin

Levi Hernandez

Maximiliano Illanes

Sue Irion

Patty Kennedy

Sandy Lyons

Ashley Magnus

Quinn Middleman

Rebecca Palmer

Yasuko Oura and Nick Photinos

Audrey Pierce

Jeremy Rosenberg

Alexander Schöll

Allison Shapp

Bridget Skaggs

Laura Smalley

Glenn Smith

Kristina Jurate

Josh Taylor

Chris Thoren

Eric Wallbruch

Amy Weatherford

Elizabeth Wiener

Mark Wilder

Jonathan Zeng

In Kind Donations

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LATITUDE 49

$1000+

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$500-999

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Roberta Melton

Jani Parsons

Anonymous

$250-499

Bernard Conroy

Scott McAllister

$100-249

Spark and Julie Geissler

Jack Kinsey

Weiqun and Catalina Li

Jared Miller

Boson Mo

Jana and Pat Miller

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Susan Sies

Tim Sies

Carolyn and Bruce Steeves

Susan Swaney

Ruddy Terrell

Scott Verduin

Jacobson Woollen

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Shi-An Costello

Mark Dover

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Ryan Greene

Michael Hall

Langston Hemingway

Patty Hughes

Lisa Keeney

Fitz McGirr

Steven Naimark

Christopher Narloch

David Newton

Una O’riordan

Vera Parkin

Brian Petuch

Jake Saunders

Arlo Shultis

Ingrid Stolzel

Dan VanHassell

Rajung Yang

Roger Zare

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Ron Amchin

Spencer Arias

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Sookkyung Cho

David Coy

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Chelsea Gallo

Iman Habibi

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Preston Hart

Lucas Hopkins

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Hyewon Jung

Alexis Lamb

Jeffrey Leung

Christine Harada Li

Darren Lin

Nick Luby

Michael Malis

Adam Marks

Allegra Montenari

Jules Pegram

Laura Perkett

Amy Petrengelli

Melanie Pozdol

Kate Pukinskis

Suby Raman

Sam Ross

Evan Saddler

Carl Schimmel

Annika Sokolofsky

Sarah Steeves

Sarah Vanderploeg

Robin and Meg Wallace

TJ Wolfgram

TO OUR DONORS, THANK YOUChicago Fringe Opera & Latitude 49 are immensely grateful for our donors. Through

your support we are able to craft innovative collaborations like Love Wounds.

chicagofringeopera.com/support / latitude49music.com/support