“To My Distant Love” press release
INCOMING CALL! ON SITE OPERA PRESENTS WORLD’S FIRST TELEPHONE-BASED OPERA, TO MY DISTANT LOVE, JUNE 18-JULY 6
A New One-On-One Immersive Opera Experience for a Time of Longing and Isolation
NEW YORK, May 28, 2020 – On Site Opera, New York’s pioneering opera company rooted in site-specific storytelling and the immersive experience, will present To My Distant Love, the world’s first telephone-based opera experience, June 18-July 6, 2020. Featuring Beethoven’s influential song cycle An die ferne Geliebte, with text by poet Alois Isidor Jeitteles and additional new English dialogue by Monet Hurst-Mendoza, the company will offer 100 intimate performances for one audience member at a time by a live singer and pianist duo.
The 6-song story of a lovelorn protagonist who laments about absent love, this new immersive opera experience invites one audience member at a time to be “the distant love” to which these songs are sung by either a soprano (Jennifer Zetlan) or baritone (Mario Diaz-Moresco) and pianist (David Shimoni and Spencer Myer, respectively). Jeitteles’s stirring meditations on the grief of separation and the hope of reunion speak directly to our current isolation and uncertainty about the future. Uniquely site-specific in nature, the backdrop for this intimate call is up to the discretion of the audience—a park bench, a cozy chair by a window, a drive through the country, or a bustling city street. The immersive experience will begin before the 20-minute performance phone call placed to the ticket holder, as the protagonist will send love letters via email in anticipation of finally re-connecting, setting the stage for love, beauty, longing and deep introspection. Complete with dialogue and interactive conversation, each performance will be completely one of a kind, highlighting the power of live theater despite widespread theater closures.
“During this unprecedented pause, almost every aspect of our lives—even the way we are consuming art— has been through our computer or tablet screens,” explains On Site Opera’s General and Artistic Director Eric Einhorn. “This production will untether people from their computers and bring back the feeling of live theater, where anything can and will happen,” he continues. “We have brought audiences to more than 20 engaging sites across four states in these last 7 seasons. We now invite our audiences to bring us to their favorite sites and be a part of revolutionizing the ways in which opera can be heard, experienced and evolved.”
This production of An die ferne Geliebte is being done in honor of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.
SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION
My Distant Love will be performed:
Thursday, June 18: 1:00pm*, 1:30pm*, 2:00pm*, 7:00pm*, 7:30pm*, 8:00pm*
Friday, June 19: 10:00am†, 10:30am†, 11:00am†, 7:00pm†, 7:30pm†, 8:00pm†
Saturday, June 20: 10:00am*, 10:30am*, 11:00am*, 1:00pm*, 1:30pm*, 2:00pm*, 7:00pm†, 7:30pm†, 8:00pm†
Sunday, June 21: 10:00am†, 10:30am†, 11:00am†, 1:00pm†, 1:30pm†, 2:00pm†, 7:00pm*, 7:30pm*, 8:00pm*
Wednesday, June 24: 10:00am*, 10:30am*, 11:00am*, 1:00pm†, 1:30pm†, 2:00pm†
Thursday, June 25: 1:00pm†, 1:30pm†, 2:00pm†, 7:00pm†, 7:30pm†, 8:00pm†
Friday, June 26: 10:00am*, 10:30am*, 11:00am*, 7:00pm*, 7:30pm*, 8:00pm*
Saturday, June 27: 10:00am†, 10:30am†, 11:00am†, 1:00pm†, 1:30pm†, 2:00pm†, 7:00pm*, 7:30pm*, 8:00pm*
Sunday, June 28: 10:00am*, 10:30am*, 11:00am*, 1:00pm*, 1:30pm*, 2:00pm*, 7:00pm†, 7:30pm†, 8:00pm†
Wednesday, July 1: 10:00am†, 10:30am†, 11:00am†, 1:00pm*, 1:30pm*, 2:00pm*
Thursday, July 2: 1:00pm†, 1:30pm†, 2:00pm†, 7:00pm*, 7:30pm*, 8:00pm*
Friday, July 3: 10:00am*, 10:30am*, 11:00am*, 11:30am*, 7:00pm†, 7:30pm†, 8:00pm†, 8:30pm†
Sunday, July 5: 10:00am†, 10:30am†, 11:00am†, 1:00pm*, 1:30pm*, 2:00pm*, 2:30pm*
Monday, July 6: 1:00pm†, 1:30pm†, 2:00pm†, 2:30pm†, 7:00pm*, 7:30pm*, 8:00pm*
*Soprano: Zetlan/Shimoni
†Baritone: Diaz-Moresco/Myer
Tickets are $40. VIP pre-sale will begin June 8. Tickets will go on sale to the public on June 10 and will be available at https://osopera.org
REPERTORY NOTES
To My Distant Love | World Premiere
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven
Song text by Alois Isidor Jeitteles
Additional English dialogue by Monet Hurst-Mendoza
Directed by Eric Einhorn
Musical Consultation by Geoffrey McDonald
Run time: 20 minutes
This new immersive opera experience invites you to be “the distant love” for a one-on-one performance featuring a live singer (you choose soprano or baritone) and pianist. The “site” for this performance will be yours to choose as your beloved calls you by phone to express their longing and joy to you, their distant love. Where will you choose to take such an intimate phone call? A walk through the park? A cozy chair by a window? The immersive experience will begin even before your phone call, as your beloved will send you love letters in anticipation of finally speaking again.
###
ABOUT ON SITE OPERA
Founded in 2012, On Site Opera is the leading presenter of site-specific operas in non- traditional venues throughout New York City. Rooted in collaboration and storytelling, On Site Opera celebrates the connection between artist and audience through highly-curated experiences led by seasoned opera artists and bold and innovative creative teams. To date, OSO has produced 18 operas in as many unique locations to critical acclaim, including Shostakovich’s The Tale of The Silly Baby Mouse using large-scale puppets in performances for families at the Bronx Zoo; Gershwin’s Blue Monday in the historic Cotton Club of Harlem; and Rameau’s Pygmalion in Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, which explored new technology in opera through the use of Google Glass supertitles. Each production invites New Yorkers to explore their city in new and unique ways, while cultivating a new generation of opera audiences.
