Silver Finch Arts Collective is a DC-based organization that provides a forum for artists of all types to collaborate across all genres of art. It strives to break down the barriers that people perceive between new art and the public by proving that new art can have a broad appeal without compromising the integrity of its message.
Basically, I’m just trying to help open up conversation lines between artists. I originally was going to start an opera company, but in talking to my theatre-going friends who don’t know much about opera (a group that I’d especially like to court), I came up with the idea of not limiting myself to opera. I’m hoping to try and bring artists together who might be interested in co-producing performances that can hopefully introduce audiences to something new. For example, my friend who does traditional Indian dance might have an idea for a project with a playwright, and maybe I’d write a short operatic piece to pair with that – and hopefully everything would be interesting, accessible to new audiences, and affordable. Sort of a “come for the musical, stay for the opera” sort of thing.
Fallen Angels is the first production under the Silver Finch name. Ideally I would have wanted more than just opera as part of this performance, but it was tough finding collaborators on such short notice. Therefore, this is very much my own show.
The Fallen Angels Cycle is a set of miniature chamber operas, each about 15 minutes long and each for a cast of three. Each opera takes a religious story, takes it out of a religious context, changes the setting to a modern United States, and focuses on the moral grey area that is behind the “villain”s choices. The idea is to show how people in the present day, when placed in similar situations, might do similar things even if they themselves aren’t “evil.”
The first Fallen Angels opera, The Name on the Door, was intended for the 2010 Fringe Festival. That project didn’t work out, but I liked this short piece so much that I wrote more. The “villain” protagonists of the three shows are Jezebel, Lilith, and Satan.
There are a few more Silver Finch productions in the works: A singer and an artist are putting together a recital, and Silver Finch may be pairing with an early music ensemble in the area for an old music/new music concert in the future.
Venue: Mountain – at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church -900 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, DC
Performances: Purchase tickets by clicking on the following performances.
LINKS
Fallen Angels Capital Fringe show page.
Silver Finch website:
Fallen Angels info:
