Opera meets dance in a new production of Olivier Messiaen’s song cycle featuring Julia Bullock, soprano, Conor Hanick, piano and dancer/choreographers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber
Courtesy photo.
SUMMARY
- UCSB Arts & Lectures with Ojai Music Festival presents Olivier Messiaen’s HARAWI
- Fri, Oct 4 | 8 p.m. | Campbell Hall
-
- Acclaimed soprano Julia Bullock to be joined by Music Academy of the West faculty member Conor Hanick, piano
- Choreography by Or Schraiber and Bobbi Jene Smith
- Directed by Zack Winokur for AMOC*
- Santa Barbara Debut
- Pre-concert lecture by Charles Donelan, 6:30 p.m. in 1010 Henley Hall
- An American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) Production
- Produced in collaboration with the Ojai Music Festival
- Artist talkback with Julia Bullock following the performance
- $32.50 – $77.50 / $15 UCSB students (Current student ID required)
- Tickets & Info: www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu or (805) 893-3535
“Julia Bullock [is] an essential soprano for our times.” – Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times
SANTA BARBARA — UCSB Arts & Lectures presents Olivier Messiaen’s HARAWI produced in collaboration with Ojai Music Festival on Friday, October 4 at 8 p.m. at Campbell Hall. HARAWI, an American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) production, realizes Olivier Messiaen’s deeply-affecting song cycle for voice and piano in a newly physicalized and dramatized version directed by Zack Winokur that features acclaimed soprano, Julia Bullock; pianist Conor Hanick; and dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber.
Over the course of a dozen interconnected love songs in HARAWI – the first installment in a series of song cycles known as the composer’s Tristan trilogy – dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber bring Messiaen’s romantic surrealism to life through their original choreography. All four artists – Smith and Schraiber, plus pianist Conor Hanick and soprano Julia Bullock – are contributing members of American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), an adventurous, enterprising collective of artists that has been called “blindingly impressive” and “preternaturally talented” by The New York Times. By incorporating dance, this unique production of HARAWI opens up Messiaen’s song cycle, adding a new dimension and greater intensity to its portrayal of love and loss.
Ojai Music Festival Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian is happy to see this project, which was originally scheduled to take place during the 2022 Festival, now taking place at UCSB. In a message to friends of the Ojai Festival dated September 9, Guzelimian wrote: “Messiaen’s HARAWI is a deeply passionate hour-long song cycle of love and longing, inspired by sources as wide-ranging as the myth of Tristan and Isolde as well as imagery drawing from Peruvian folklore. In AMOC*’s brilliant re-imagining of the work, two dancers double the singer and pianist, connecting movement to music in a deeply affecting work of love and longing.”
Arrive early for a Pre-Concert Talk by Charles Donelan, Senior Arts Writer. The pre-concert presentation on HARAWI and its context begins at 6:30 p.m. in 1010 Henley Hall at UCSB. Henley Hall is across the parking lot from Campbell Hall, and next door to the Mosher Alumni House.
Following the performance, Julia Bullock will participate in a post-concert talkback in Campbell Hall.
The Making of HARAWI (American Modern Opera Company)
ABOUT OLIVIER MESSIAEN’S HARAWI
Music and Text by Olivier Messiaen
Julia Bullock, soprano
Conor Hanick, pianist
Bobbi Jene Smith, dancer
Or Schraiber, dancer
Zack Winokur, Director
Bobbi Jene Smith, Choreographer
Or Schraiber, Choreographer
John Torres, Lighting Designer*
Chris Gilmore, Lighting Supervisor*
Mark Grey, Sound Designer*
Victoria Bek, Costume Designer*
Betsy Ayer, Production Stage Manager
Julia Bumke, Producer
Translations by Julia Bullock
Supertitle design by Landon Wilson
*Denotes guest artist
AMOC’s production of HARAWI realizes Olivier Messiaen’s deeply affecting, hour-long song cycle for voice and piano in new physical and dramatic dimensions, featuring soprano Julia Bullock, pianist Conor Hanick, choreographer/dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, with direction by Zack Winokur. Moving from duet to quartet, this production breaks open Messiaen’s cycle, connects movement to music, and grapples with the intensity of love and loss.
PROGRAM NOTES BY JULIA BULLOCK AND ZACK WINOKUR
Express living archives in the body – Articulate complex rhythms and patterns – Utilize repetition in order to better understand – Encourage improvisation – Invite movement and sound to become extensions of each other – Voice one’s surroundings as a way to be immersed in and expanded by them – Utter broken words.*
These are some values intrinsic to the traditions of Harawi (Qarawi) – Andean music which is still expressed across the diverse cultures and peoples in Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and beyond.
Olivier Messiaen only became aware of Andean Harawi traditions through an ethnographic anthology written by Marguerite and Raoul d’Harcourt, however the melodies and themes seemed to provide a space where Messiaen could process why love, loss, absence and presence are human preoccupations; and how shattered realities give way to expansiveness.
Messiaen’s life circumstances, relationships and beliefs always seemed to infuse his compositions, oftentimes with explicit symbols and associations. Messiaen began to write this song cycle when he returned home after being a prisoner of war during World War II. Shortly after his return, the mind and body of Claire Delbos – a fellow musician, source of inspiration and his wife – had begun to slowly degenerate, including total amnesia; all while a new love partner began entering his life.
While appropriating elements of Quechuan languages and Andean Harawi traditions, Messiaen’s song cycle HARAWIexplores dichotomies: life and death, pain and joy, spirituality and sensuality, sacrifice and preservation, fulfillment and loss. He seems to be asking from a place of personal grief: how do you stay connected to someone you love while the accumulated memories of your relationship begin to fade or drift? How do you recover and move on?
Our desire to perform this work originated from an intuitive interest in Messiaen’s expressions through his poetry and music. However, our discussions with current practitioners of Harawi, along with a direct acknowledgement of Olivier Messiaen’s difficult life circumstances while he wrote this piece, have informed the realization of this piece and revealed deep threads of resonance. We look forward to sharing where these explorations have led us.
* These are fragments and impressions from conversations with Luz Zenaida Hualpa García, dancer and choreographer and Karen Michelsen Castañón, visual artist. Both are current practitioners of Harawi.
ABOUT THE ARTISTIC TEAM
Julia Bullock
One of Musical America’s 2021 Artists of the Year, Julia Bullock is an American classical singer who “communicates intense, authentic feeling, as if she were singing right from her soul” (Opera News). Combining versatile artistry with a probing intellect and commanding stage presence, she has headlined productions and concerts at preeminent arts institutions around the world. An innovative curator in high demand from a diverse group of organizations, she has held positions including collaborative partner of Esa-Pekka Salonen and 2019-2020 Artist-in-Residence at the San Francisco Symphony, 2020-2022 Artist-in-Residence of London’s Guildhall School and 2018-19 Artist-in-Residence at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bullock’s opera debuts include San Francisco Opera in the world premiere of Girls of the Golden West; Santa Fe Opera in Doctor Atomic; Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Dutch National Opera in The Rake’s Progress; the English National Opera, Teatro Real and Bolshoi Theatre in the title role of The Indian Queen; and Dutch National Opera, Bregenzer Festspiele and Park Avenue Armory in the premiere of Michel van der Aa’s Upload. In concert, she has collaborated with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and London’s Philharmonia and London Symphony Orchestras, while her recital highlights include appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Celebrity Series, Washington’s Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall and the Mostly Mozart and Ojai Music festivals. Released by Nonesuch, Bullock’s solo album debut, Walking in the Dark, was featured in the New York Times’s “Best Classical Music Tracks of 2022” and named one of the “Ten Best Classical Albums of 2022” by NPR. Her growing discography also includes Grammy-nominated accounts of West Side Story and Doctor Atomic, as well as the soundtrack of Amazon Prime Video’s 2021 The Underground Railroad, composed by Nicholas Britell. Committed to integrating community activism with her musical life, Bullock is also a prominent voice for social consciousness and change.
Conor Hanick
Pianist Conor Hanick is regarded as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master.” (New York Times) Hanick has recently worked with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Ludovic Morlot, Alan Gilbert and David Robertson, and collaborated with the San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Juilliard Orchestra. He has been presented by the Gilmore Festival, New York Philharmonic, Elbphilharmonie, De Singel, Centre Pompidou, Cal Performances, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Park Avenue Armory and the Ojai Festival, where in 2022 with AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company) he served as the festival’s artistic director.
A fierce advocate for the music of today, Hanick has premiered over 200 pieces and collaborated with composers ranging from Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho and Steve Reich, to the leading composers of his generation, including Nico Muhly, Caroline Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, Anthony Cheung and Samuel Carl Adams, whose piano concerto, No Such Spring, he premiered in 2023 with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony. This season, Hanick presents solo and chamber recitals in the U.S. and Europe, including concerts at the Wallis, Cal Performances, Segerstrom Center, Stanford Live, Guild Hall, Musikverein and elsewhere. He appears with the Phoenix and Alabama Symphonies, collaborates with Julia Bullock, Seth Parker Woods, Timo Andres and the JACK Quartet. He premieres solo and chamber works by Tania León, Nico Muhly, Matthew Aucoin and others.
Hanick is the director of Solo Piano at the Music Academy of the West and serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School, Mannes College and the CUNY Graduate Center. He lives with his family in the Hudson Valley.
Or Schraiber
Or Schraiber was born in 1992 in the city of Jerusalem, where he studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. In 2010, Schraiber joined the Batsheva Dance Company, with whom he danced for seven years. In 2017, Schraiber moved to New York City to study acting at the Stella Adler Studio. In 2018, he co-choreographed and starred in Boaz Yakin’s feature film AVIVA. In 2019, Schraiber joined The Band’s Visit National Tour. Throughout the years, Schraiber has appeared in numerous films, choreographed with his partner, Bobbi Jene Smith, numerous original dance works for some of the world’s finest companies (including the Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Ballet BC, Ensemble Batsheva, L.A. Dance Project, to name a few), and directed various award-winning short films and music videos. Schraiber made his off-broadway debut in 2023, choreographing (in collaboration with Bobbi Jene Smith) Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. He is a founding member of the American Modern Opera Company.
Bobbi Jene Smith
Bobbi Jene Smith is from Ames, Iowa. She is an alumnus of the Juilliard School, North Carolina School of the Arts and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. From 2005-2014, she was a member of the Batsheva Dance Company under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin. In collaboration with Or Schraiber, she has choreographed original works for the Paris Opera Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Royal Danish Ballet, Theater Basel, L.A. Dance Project, the Batsheva Dance Ensemble, among others. She is a founding member of American Modern Opera Company and an artist in residence at L.A. Dance Project.
Zack Winokur
Described as “the vanguard of his generation’s artistic leaders” (New York Times), Director and Producer Zack Winokur is co-founder and Artistic Director of AMOC* as well as Producing Artistic Director of Little Island. Recent directing highlights include: Mammoth, featuring Yo-Yo Ma 400 feet underground inside Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky; Tristan and Isolde at the Santa Fe Opera; Messiaen’s HARAWI at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, De Singel, Elbphilharmonie; Only an Octave Apart starring Justin Vivian Bond and Anthony Roth Costanzo at St. Ann’s Warehouse, the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Opera, Wilton’s Music Hall in London and the Spoleto Festival USA; his “rich, seamless” (New York Times) production of The Black Clown at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center and the American Repertory Theater; his “darkly captivating” (New York Times) production of Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine by Tyshawn Sorey and Claudia Rankine, starring Julia Bullock on the grand staircase of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and other productions at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Dutch National Opera and Stanford Live.
Winokur served as Artistic Director of NY PopsUp, an initiative to reopen the performing arts across New York State with over 300 free and public performances featuring hundreds of artists from February to July 2021. He co-teaches a transdisciplinary storytelling class at Harvard with Davóne Tines.
ABOUT UCSB ARTS & LECTURES
Founded in 1959, UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) is the largest and most influential arts and lectures organization between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A&L annually presents more than a hundred public events, from critically acclaimed concerts and dance performances by world-renowned artists to talks by groundbreaking authors and film series at UCSB and Santa Barbara-area venues. With a mission to “educate, entertain and inspire,” A&L also oversees an outreach program that brings visiting artists and speakers into local classrooms and other venues for master classes, open rehearsals, discussions and more, serving K-12 students, college students and the general public.
Olivier Messiaen’s HARAWI is an American Modern Opera Company production presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures in collaboration with the Ojai Music Festival.
Great Performances Suite Sponsors: G. A. Fowler Family Foundation and Shanbrom Family Foundation
Presented in association with UCSB Department of Music
Tickets are $32.50 – $77.50 / $15 UCSB students (Current student ID required)
For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535 or purchase online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges 2024-2025 Season Sponsor Sara Miller McCune.
UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges our Community Partners the Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli for their generous support of the 2024-2025 season.