Alcina REVAMPED

Overview

Alter Ego Chamber Opera (AECO) is an emerging, Philadelphia-based chamber opera company which performs new and reimagined operatic works, endeavoring to serve as a catalyst for change, bringing intimate, experimental opera theatre to the region, and challenging the boundaries of the operatic artform.

Alcina REVAMPED brings Handel’s original baroque opera to life with a brand new English adaptation by Alize Francheska Rozsnyai, embracing themes of LGBTQ+ identity and love, magic, belonging, and forgiveness. Original baroque instrumentation meets 80s-style electronics – synthesizer and electronic landscapes, saxophone, electric guitar, harpsichord, violin, viola, and cello, all creating a very unique sound world.

Casting includes a diverse group of incredible professional opera singer-actors, and staging draws upon devised theatre techniques to create a production that is raw, intimate, and unlike any other.

Alter Ego Chamber Opera

Alter Ego Chamber Opera (AECO) is an emerging, Philadelphia-based chamber opera company which performs new and reimagined works, endeavoring to serve as a catalyst for change, bringing intimate, experimental opera theatre to the region. Comprised of Alize Rozsnyai, Soprano and librettist, Irene Moretto, Pianist / Harpsichordist, Tom Sitzler, Baritone, and Roger A. Martinez, composer, AECO is now in its third season. The company debuted in 2019 at the Fringe Festival with a double-bill entitled Operatic Addictions, including an original work by David Matthew Brown called Phony, centered around smartphone addiction, as well as an adaptation of Bach's Coffee Cantata by Alize Rozsnyai. In 2020, the ensemble rerouted their stage production, which showcased five composer winners from their call-for-score competition, to an entirely virtual production entitled Mosaic of Modern Opera. The company aspires to present classical music "without the ego," connecting new audience members to the operatic artform, and making it more accessible and relevant to our present-day culture.

Credits

Music by G.F. Handel, Original English adaptation by Alize Francheska Rozsnyai

Conductor: Evan Kassof

Director: Madeline Whitesell

Music Direction: Irene Moretto

 

Alcina: Brenna Markey

Ruggiero: Annie Chester

Bradamante: Kaitlyn Tierney

Morgana: Alize Francheska 

Oronte: Al-Jabril Muhammad

Melissa: Matthew Maisano (as Balena Canto) 

Oberto: Andrew Egbuchiem

 

Harpsichord: Irene Moretto

Electronics / Synthesizer and Electronic Sound Design: Thomas Patteson

Saxophone: Aaron Stewart

Violin: Michael Shingo-Crawford

Electric Guitar: Will Brobston

Viola: Emma Hey

Cello: Ezgi Yargici