Event Detail

Soprano Bonnie Lander will present a recital in collaboration with the New York-based ensemble Rhymes with Opera. The ensemble will premiere Lander's Coping Mechanisms as its first improvisational opera, featuring vocalists Lander, Elisabeth Halliday and Robert Maril, as well as Judith Hamann (cello), Tommy Babin (bass) and Kjell Nordeson (percussion).

Coping Mechanisms explores themes of isolation, anxiety, agoraphobia and grief through improvised dramatic narratives and sounds. Set apart in three separate spaces, three singers (performed by Rhymes With Opera ensemble members Bonnie Lander, Elisabeth Halliday and Robert Maril) explore their own anxieties about what awaits them in the outside world. Using both incidental vocal sounds and melodies inspired by operatic training and techniques, the trio works together in bringing to life a full musical narrative - without the safety net of a written score. Coping Mechanisms is a new opera that explores how we create our own personal spaces while also longing for a connection with our community.

Founded in 2007, Rhymes With Opera includes founding company members Ruby Fulton (composer); Elisabeth Halliday (soprano); George Lam (composer); Bonnie Lander (soprano); and Robert Maril (baritone). During the 2012-2013 season, Rhymes With Opera expanded to include a house band, the Rhymes With Orchestra, a chamber ensemble comprised of some of this generation’s most exciting contemporary instrumentalists. With the addition of the RWOrchestra, RWO has become a self-contained contemporary opera machine, commissioning and producing works that can be performed whole-cloth by the company.

Since 2007, RWO has commissioned more than 17 new operas, ranging from one-minute “signature” pieces to evening-length productions. New operas commissioned and produced by RWO include Travis Sullivan’s Three Modern Pieces, Thomas Limbert’s Numbers / Dates, Jenny Olivia Johnson’s Book of Gazes, Kathleen Bader’s Leads, Douglas Buchanan’s Goblin Market, David Smooke’s Criminal Element, Adam Matlock’s Red Giant, and Erik Spangler’s Cantata For A Loop Trail, an outdoor hiking opera set in Gwynn Falls Leakin Park in Baltimore and Inwood Hill Park in New York City.

RWO has performed in Baltimore venues including Area 405, the 2640 Space, the City Arts Gallery and the Wind-Up Space, and in NYC venues including Roulette, the Cornelia Street Café, the National Opera Center, JACK, and the City University of New York. Since 2014 , RWO has regularly presented our mainstage productions in the intimate 124 Bank Street Theatre in New York City.

Bonnie Lander is a classically trained vocalist and violin player who specializes in unorthodox music including new music, avant-garde, and free improvisation. Her relationship with experimental music is defined through collaboration with composers, performers (music and dance), improvisers, lighting designers, sound engineers, computer musicians, students, and friends. Bonnie has performed throughout the United States and Europe in a wide variety of concert settings oscillating between theaters, concert halls, galleries, vans, and bridges. She is currently a DMA candidate at UC San Diego and is an active member of two new music non- profit organizations as performer, composer, and outreach director: Rhymes With Opera (NYC) and San Diego New Music (San Diego). For more info check out http://www.bonnielander.com