new opera and music drama | Carmen-Helena Téllez

Two oratorios sing the trials of our society and prayers of reflection

May 5, 2019 by carmen helena tellez

I am delighted to announce that Ensemble Concept/21 has invited the Euclid Quartet, Kosmologia, and the Notre Dame Children’s Choir to premiere the oratorios The Tower and the Garden by Gregory Spears and Beatitudes by Jorge Muñiz, under my direction, next Friday, May 10, at 7 pm, in the Campus Auditorium of Indiana University South Bend. This project joins together two important sponsors of creativity in this country– The New Frontiers Program at Indiana University, and the Ann Stookey Fund […]

Categories: art and religion, art and society, gesamtkünstwerk, intermedia, music composition, new choral music, new forms of presentation, new opera and music drama, postclassical music, sacred music • Tags: CARMEN HELENA TELLEZ, Denise Levertov, Gregory Spears, Jorge Muñiz, Notre Dame Vocale, Thomas Merton

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The re-birth of new opera

February 20, 2017 by carmen helena tellez

A few days ago I tweeted that 10 years ago I argued with skeptic colleagues — as I pursued my own experiments — that interdisciplinary musical works were going to become mainstream. I think this time is here. Sometimes I feel we are again in the 1600s, with the birth of opera, and the Baroque style, and a new way of organizing music. Some will argue that we have a rebirth of the ‘happenings” of the 60s and 70s–but I venture to say […]

Categories: contemporary music, new opera and music drama, Uncategorized • Tags: Alex Ross, Ipsa Dixit, Kate Soper, new opera

TEDx Talks are up!

February 28, 2014 by carmen helena tellez

View the Talk on YouTube

Categories: art and ritual, art and society, Carmen's work, context affects perception, context and perception, interdiscipline, my work, new conductor, new forms of presentation, new opera and music drama

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On opera commenting on history: Michael Dellaira’s The Death of Webern

December 11, 2013 by carmen helena tellez

It is now two months since the Pocket Opera Players premiered under my musical direction Michael Dellaira’s The Death of Webern, alongside John Eaton’s Rerouted, in New York City’s Symphony Space. In a way, both operas commented, one tragically and the other farcically, on the future of high art. Now Michael Dellaira sends me a wonderful article on his opera that offers both a summary and a context for his insightful work. It is worthy reading for those opera lovers […]

Categories: art and society, Carmen's work, music composition, new opera and music drama

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¡Unicamente la verdad! has had tremendous reception this year!

June 27, 2013 by carmen helena tellez

Gabriela Ortiz, the composer of ¡Unicamente la verdad! has sent us the fantastic review written by Opera News after its California premiere with the adventurous Andreas Mitisek and Long Beach Opera, with the new title Camelia la tejana: Only the Truth!. I invite you to revisit the notes on the conceptualization and premiere in 2008 at Indiana University of ULV, more than an opera, a work of interdisciplinary art. It is wonderful to see the different directorial approaches, one sardonic […]

Categories: art and ritual, art and society, Carmen's work, context and perception, multimedia, my work, new opera and music drama • Tags: Camelia la Tejana, Gabriela Ortiz, Unicamente la verdad

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Sharing the news of our new DMA at Notre Dame

December 30, 2012 by carmen helena tellez

On December 11 the University of Notre Dame approved a new Doctor of Musical Arts program with specializations in Choral Conducting and in Organ. The approach to training the new conductors includes deep study of the relationship of music with other arts and other disciplines. Although conductors will study the broad choral repertoires, it is inevitable to study Western sacred music, which lies a the foundation of most Western art music. After all, in my personal view, liturgy is one […]

Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, new choral music, new conductor, new opera and music drama, sacred music, scholarship • Tags: DMA at Notre Dame, James MacMillan

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Sharing Don Freund’s Passion with Tropes

February 28, 2012 by carmen helena tellez

An interdisciplinary project produced last May, that has opened so many avenues for reflection! The interaction with great artists lighting designer Rob Shakespeare, video artist Susanne Schwibs. digital artist Margaret Dolinsky, choreographer Liz Shea, digital designer Ed Dambik, stage mechanics designer Paul Brunner and stage director Jonathan Courtemanche can change a life, in this case, mine. Bravo–composer Don Freund! (In the picture, tenor Nick Fitzer and digital art by Margaret Dolinsky).For more pictures, visit Margaret Dolinsky’s page here

Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, multimedia, my work, new opera and music drama • Tags: DON FREUND

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Philip Glass’s Satyagraha: Met’s great production for a significant work.

December 9, 2011 by carmen helena tellez

…not only the opera as a musical work, but its production, such as the MET has done it for Philip Glass’s Satyagraha last November. Satyagraha means The Force of Truth in Sanskrit. We were stunned by the extraordinary marriage of the music and its visual and choreographic manifestation. I saw it at the movies only yesterday, through one of the wonderful Met HD broadcasts that are changing the consumption of opera. The camera work in itself was extraordinary, and speaks […]

Categories: art and ritual, contemporary music, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, music, new opera and music drama, postclassical music

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The reviews of PASSION with Tropes are as variegated as the work itself

May 30, 2011 by carmen helena tellez

Composer Jeremy Podgursky has just published his review of Don Freund’s PASSION with Tropes in the excellent online journal Sequenza21.com. His full account and considered opinion teach us how an interdisciplinary presentation of a musical work originally conceived for concert oratorio format may provoke surprising revelations about the work itself. The layers multiply beyond the performance through the reception and critique of viewers. Podgursky’s impression of PASSION was affected by his experience of important films by Fellini and Godard. This […]

Categories: art, art and religion, art and ritual, art music video, contemporary music, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, meta-composition, multimedia, music composition, my work, new choral music, new conductor, new opera and music drama, postclassical music, sacred music

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Carmen-Helena Téllez

Conductor – Producer – Interdisciplinary Artist • A presentation site with notes about music, art and the occasional paradox

Category Archives: new opera and music drama

Two oratorios sing the trials of our society and prayers of reflection

The re-birth of new opera

TEDx Talks are up!

On opera commenting on history: Michael Dellaira’s The Death of Webern

¡Unicamente la verdad! has had tremendous reception this year!

Sharing the news of our new DMA at Notre Dame

Sharing Don Freund’s Passion with Tropes

Philip Glass’s Satyagraha: Met’s great production for a significant work.

The reviews of PASSION with Tropes are as variegated as the work itself