“However ‘Criminal Element’ is ultimately classified genre-wise, it adds up to a highly creative, absorbing experience.” - The Baltimore Sun
$15 in advance / $20 at the door
RHYMES WITH OPERA is an ensemble based in both Baltimore and New York City, and is dedicated to creating and performing contemporary experimental vocal music and chamber opera. Rhymes With Opera expands the repertoire of new vocal music by commissioning and promoting new works, collaborating with a variety of artists, and creating works that forge new connections between music and other disciplines. RWO seeks new audiences for contemporary opera by bringing smaller, more flexible productions to a wide variety of venues, creating meaningful connections between the work, the place where it is performed, and the audience.
In 2010, Rhymes With Opera commissioned Baltimore composer David Smooke to create Criminal Element, a forty-minute “non-opera” based loosely around the story of outlaw French bank trader Jérôme Kerviel, with an invented language by Smooke.
RWO concludes its 2012-13 season with a new, fully staged production of Criminal Element. The production is designed by Valeska Populoh, and is co-directed by Populoh and composer David Smooke. Criminal Element features lighting design by David Crandall and video design by Margaret Rorison.
In addition, RWO will be premiering twelve one-minute operas by Judah Adashi, Jenny Beck, Sidney Boquiren, Joshua Bornfield,Nomi Epstein, Alexandra Gardner, Tim Hansen, Andrew Histand, Mark Lackey, Anna Meadors, Rachel Peters, and Ashley Wang. These brand-new operas were commissioned especially for this performance.
RWO will be joined by Baltimore’s SONAR New Music Ensemble, who will accompany the ensemble for this production.