National Sawdust has announced the second half of its 10th anniversary season will include 15 new works commissioned by the organization. For the purposes of this article only new operatic additions are included. Vivian Fung’s “Girl From the 905” is a work-in-process song cycle conceived and performed by soprano Andrea Núñez. Performance Dates: January 21–26, 2025 Sawdust teams with Sparks {…}
(Photo credit: Kaveh Kowsari) National Sawdust presented Emruz Festival’s “Whispers of the Flesh” on Friday, April 26th, 2024, directed by Shadi Ghaheri and assistant director/stage manager Lilia Houshmand, as part of a three performance series of works written by Iranian women residing within Iran. “Whispers of the Flesh” brings to light the works of women facing their own bodies and {…}
Co-Founders and Directors Martha Guth and Erika Switzer, together with National Sawdust present the eighth annual “songSLAM.” The “songSLAM” is fashioned after traditional poetry slams and storytelling events like “The Moth.” Teams present world premieres of art song and compete for audience-awarded cash prizes totaling up to $2,000 and a performance of the 2023 songSLAM Commission Prize Winner. This year’s {…}
The Columbia University School of Music will present a symposium on March 25, 2023, titled “Operatic Feminisms,” which aims to explore the possibilities for feminist opera studies and the role of women in opera in the 21st century. The symposium will include public panels, workshops, and roundtable discussions featuring scholarly works and cross-disciplinary exchanges. The New Opera Workshop and Columbia {…}
The Center for Contemporary Opera will present the workshop-premiere in concert for Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s “We, The Innumerable.” The work, which features a libretto by Lisa Flanagan, will be presented on Oct. 21, 2022 at the National Sawdust. The work is set during Iran’s Green Movement and features one woman’s fight for freedom in the face of state-sanctioned violence. “The October {…}
Beth Morrison Projects has announced that Niloufar Nourbakhsh is the winner of the BMP: Next Gen competition. During the final round of the competition, Nourkbakhsh presented “Threshold of Brightness.” Written by Lisa Flanagan and directed by Shadi Ghaheri, the work follows controversial Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad “as she is seriously injured in a car crash and enters a dream-like state {…}
Beth Morrison Projects has announced the finalists of its “BMP: Next Gen” competition. The winners include Elizabeth Gartman and Niloufar Nourbakhsh. Each winner will be awarded a $5,000 commission for the second round competition in which the two will present an original 30-minute composition next year. The winner will then receive a full commission for an evening-length work which will {…}