Iphigenia Opera

🚨🚨🚨 Wayne Shorter Way, comin’ April 29th!🚦 Posted @withregram • @wbgojazz WBGO and @cityofnewarknj Partner to Rename Street in Honor of @wayneshorterofficial (NEWARK, NJ) -- On April 29 at 5:00pm, WBGO, Newark Public Radio, will celebrate the renaming of the street on which the station resides in honor of one of Newark's own, legendary jazz musician and composer Wayne Shorter. Founded in 1979, WBGO sits at the center of the ever growing arts district in Newark - the Central Ward. Earlier this year, the Newark City Council unanimously approved WBGO's proposal to rename Park Place after NEA Jazz Master, Kennedy Center Honoree, multiple Grammy Award Winner, and Newark native, Wayne Shorter. Wayne Shorter, also known as the Newark Flash, grew up in the #Ironbound section of Newark and attended Newark Arts High. While he was steered toward Arts High following winning an art competition at age 12, Shorter had a pivotal experience thereafter acing a music theory final exam, telling WBGO's @natechinen Chinen in 2017, "It was a whole life-changing something going on, with no name. I can’t name it." Current students from Arts High will perform during a reception before the street sign unveiling where Newark mayorbaraka members of @Newark City Council, WBGO President & CEO Steven A. Williams, along with a host of musicians, will pay tribute to Mr. Shorter in a live stream event. Mr. Shorter will participate via video from his home on the West Coast. Once the new street sign is in place, WBGO and our neighbors at NJPAC will sit at the juncture of Wayne Shorter Way and Sarah Vaughan Way. A fitting tribute in a city with a rich and deep connection to jazz. WBGO President & CEO Steven A. Williams said, "Wayne Shorter is one of the most celebrated and decorated #jazz artists in the world, but he had yet to receive tangible, visible recognition of his esteem in the place where it all began for him. We felt it vitally important to deliver the bouquet while he can still smell the flowers." via @newjerseystage

And that’s a wrap! Our sold-out five city tour is complete! Thank you to all the company members, cast and crew, the team at the @thebroadstage and all our brilliant co-commissioning partners. Until next season…..! 🚀 @esperanzaspalding @wayneshorterofficial @frankgehry_official 📸 Ben Gibbs/@thebroadstage

There are many many many people to acknowledge and thank. There are so many who poured out into this incredible work and will continue to do so. We are grateful and deeply humbled by the ecstatic force that keeps birthing real magic. Thank you.

A beautifully explored account by the @nytimes of our journey with @wayneshorterofficial and @esperanzaspalding , @frankgehry_official @_lbcnyc_ and @clark_rundell . . Glory be to those unnamed who have stoked the massive engine for years to make us go: @soyjeff @cathbrittan @octopustheatricals and Mara Isaacs, @phillipgolub @leogenovesepiano @sunder_underscore @mika_shino @jennamwolf and so many many more. No story is ever complete without your team. Grateful to have ours out in the world. ✨💪🙏 . Repost from @esperanzaspalding • @nytimes ! deeep gratitude to @nytimes for this beautiful feature. Wooooow. Every being affiliated-with and part-of-the-forming-of this Oprera is deeply honored and moved... we still in the beautiful and breath-filled delivery pangs, expansions and contractions as we inch toward the full opening and emergence Nov 12th... @iphigeniaopera @wayneshorterofficial

After three years of radical development, we are at the very precipice. 🏔🪐 . . 📸 @myohmyitsmila Repost from @esperanzaspalding • i love that this area is called “the wings” -for witnessing the beautiful birthing of our opera... we just did our first run through!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! @iphigeniaopera @clark_rundell @massmoca @wayneshorterofficial

We salute the @mellonfdn for its faith in what a creative life can be, and for supporting what @esperanzaspalding and @wayneshorterofficial and our entire company of artists, designers, producers, staff, and crew are laboring toward. We are grateful for your partnership, and for sharing our belief in the power of re-mything as a form of liberation. . . 📡 @emilkang @alexanderlizzy #Repost @mellonfdn with @make_repost ・・・ “The reality of a just future we envision has never been experienced,” says vocalist, bassist, and composer @esperanzaspalding , who joins us in reimagining our future as we celebrate National Arts & Humanities Month. “In so many ways, we must speculate what the yet-to-be ‘just future’ feels like, looks like, sounds like.” Although spalding’s work is rooted in jazz, the accomplishments of the Grammy Award–winning multihyphenate have defied easy categorization. An innovator of her craft, spalding recently recorded an album meant to channel the healing power of music, and is now expanding her range to include opera. Premiering in November, @IphigeniaOpera is a retelling of the Greek myth with libretto and vocals by spalding and music by jazz luminary @wayneshorterofficial . The duo has made an entirely new work that upends convention by fusing jazz and classical forms and reframing the ancient narrative of victimization into one of empowerment. “The artist’s practice—of envisioning a yet-to-be reality, then collectively bringing it forth—is a practice for any of us who intend to manifest a more ‘just future,’” says spalding. -- Credits: 🖊️ Illustrations by @mrkharris 🎥 Video courtesy Jeff Tang and REAL MAGIC -- #ReimagineTheFuture #NationalArtsAndHumanitiesMonth #NAHM #Humanities #MellonGrant #Art #Artists #Jazz #Music #Opera

Aaaannd….Happy 60th (yesterday) to our beloved Maestro, @clark_rundell ! What a joy to celebrate you, who have been so instrumental in guiding us on this journey! 🙏🪐🚀

Happiest of birthdays to our dearest dreamer, librettist, story-architect of this opera, and Co-founder of the Realest Magic around: @esperanzaspalding ! May the choruses return and repeat ad infinitum! 💫🪐🎂 . . #RehearsalSurprise @_lbcnyc_ @wayneshorterofficial @clark_rundell @frankgehry_official @soyjeff

Tomorrow night @ 8pm ET! Don't miss a special set of music by @esperanzaspalding and @leogenovesepiano from Clement's Place at Rutgers University. Their performance will be part of our virtual fundraiser, hosted by @kikislacksoprano , to benefit community engagement and access programming for the upcoming #IphigeniaOpera tour! . Hang with soprano @reneeflemingmusic as she chops it up with @wayneshorterofficial , esperanza, and @frankgehry_official about their long-awaited collaboration and even longer friendship. . Tax deductible 🎟 available at the link in our bio. Thank you for supporting access to opera 🙏 . 📸 @jeaninereeman for @yardbirdentertainment

📡Come through this Thursday night at 8pm ET for our virtual fundraiser, hosted by soprano @kikislacksoprano to benefit important community access and engagement initiatives for the @iphigeniaopera tour! . Legendary soprano @reneeflemingmusic moderates a first-ever live discussion and QnA with creative team members @wayneshorterofficial , @esperanzaspalding , and @frankgehry_official , followed by a special musical set by esperanza and pianist @leogenovesepiano from Clement’s Place at Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz in Wayne’s hometown of Newark, NJ. . We acknowledge that encountering opera in America can involve many barriers to entry, and we want as many folks to be able to experience Iphigenia regardless of resource or privilege. Investing in engagement and access is how we give back and attempt to disrupt another narrative, off the stage as well as on it. . If you donated to our Indiegogo campaign at the $50 level or higher, you should have received an email with a complimentary code. Everyone else can still join in this incredible gathering by purchasing a tax-deductible ticket 🎟: link in our bio!☝️

📢📢Join members of the #Iphigenia Creative Team - composer @wayneshorterofficial , librettist & performer @esperanzaspalding and scenic designer @frankgehry_official - along with QnA host soprano @reneeflemingmusic , event host @kikislacksoprano , and special guests on Thursday, September 23 at 8pm ET to celebrate the upcoming world premiere! Get your ticket today at the #linkinbio ⬆️ Your support of this virtual fundraising event, through your tax-deductible ticket purchase and donations, will help activate vital community engagement and access initiatives for underserved communities, young audiences, and educators all across the Iphigenia tour which launches in November. This special evening of words and music features an exclusive Question and Answer session with the Creative Team, hosted by renowned soprano Renée Fleming. Your questions will be shared LIVE with the team during the event. Additionally, a unique performance by esperanza spalding and pianist @leogenovesepiano will be aired from The Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies: Clement's Place! Please give what you can, and help us bring audiences of all backgrounds and resources to experience this once-in-a-generation operatic collaboration. We stand in gratitude and look forward to being with you. More info & tickets available at the #linkinbio 🎟

The Iphigenia Fam revels in this glorious 88th solar revolution of the Maestro, the Source, the Newark Flash: @wayneshorterofficial . Many happy returns, Wayne, and Never Give Up! 💪☀️🚀👣 . . #HappyBirthday #iphigeniaopera #wayneshorter #esperanzaspalding #frankgehry #Superman #remything