Los Angeles-based musicians’ collective Synchromy launches its first annual summer opera festival with world premieres by two of LA’s most exciting up-and-coming composers: Vera Ivanova and Ian Dicke. The Synchromy Opera Festival kicks off with works that examine the spectacular impact of digital culture. Performances take place on June 4th and 5th, 2022, at Boston Court Pasadena. Tickets to the event are available at www.synchromy.org.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

June 4, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.

June 5, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.

LOCATION

Boston Court Pasadena 70 N Mentor Ave Pasadena, CA 91106

CREDITS

Presented by: Synchromy

Co-Presented by: Outpost Concert Series and Boston Court Pasadena

The Double by Vera Ivanova

• Librettist: Sarah LaBrie
• Director: Alexander Gedeon
• Conductor: Marc Lowenstein
• Ensemble: Brightwork Ensemble
• Vocalists: Jon Lee Keenan, Anna Schubert, Timur, and Scott Graff

Roman by Ian Dicke

• Director: June Carryl
• Conductor: Thomas Buckley
• Ensemble: Koan Quartet
• Vocalists: Elias Berezin, Jonathan Byram, Luc Kleiner, and Chloe Vaught

TICKET INFORMATION

• $40 General Admission
• $30 Seniors/Students/Artists financially impacted by COVID-19

Visit www.synchromy.org to purchase tickets

In partnership with Boston Court and Outpost Concert Series, the inaugural Synchromy Opera Festival delivers an inglorious, dynamic take on this digital life. In Vera Ivanova’s comic opera, The Double, the troubled hero believes that he has a double who is acting independently in an attempt to take over his life. For librettist Sarah LaBrie, this operatic re-imagining of Dostoevsky’s classic novel is newly relevant, as “many of us are coming to terms with what it means to be a citizen of a country founded on a dream that clashes glaringly with the reality many of us confront.” Directed by Alexander Gedeon, The Double features Brightwork Ensemble conducted by Marc Lowenstein.

Roman, Ian Dicke’s multimedia opera in two acts, questions the morality of designing intelligent machines to exhibit human behaviors. The central character, an AI assistant, is performed by a sung robotic voice and appears as a projection on a scrim. Director June Carryl says, “In Roman, what's toxic is giving ourselves wholesale to tech without boundaries, without a sense of right and wrong, only logical conclusions.” Conductor Thomas Buckley and the Koan Quartet accompany the human and virtual performers.

To make this typically austere form more accessible, the presenting organizations are offering tiered ticket prices and distributing free tickets to partnering community service organizations. Preview workshops and pop-up events throughout Los Angeles will offer fun and free or low-cost events prior to the premier.

BIOS

Synchromy is a musicians’ collective founded in 2010, focused on Los Angeles-based composers. We approach programming with a sense of playfulness and interaction, experimenting with alternative concert formats and programming ideas. Our flexible and culturally responsive approach is vital to improving equity by reaching out to adventurous, new, underrepresented audiences and artists. synchromy.org

Vera Ivanova (Composer, The Double) teaches at Chapman University (Associate Professor of Music, Music Theory and Composition Department). She graduated from Moscow Conservatory, Guildhall School in London, and Eastman School with degrees in music composition. Her compositions have been performed worldwide and received many national and international awards. veraivanova.com

Ian Dicke (Composer and librettist, Roman) works in a diverse array of genres and multimedia. His music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles and soloists around the world, including the New World Symphony, ISCM World New Music Days, and elsewhere. Dicke currently serves as an Associate Professor of Composition at the University of California, Riverside. Iandicke.com