Photo: Amanda Tipton Photography.
Atlas of Remote Islands (2023)
Scored for seven singers, piano, clarinet, and percussion (optional voices and piano reduction version)
Libretto by Alan Olejniczak, based on the book by Judith Schalansky
Premiered May 5&6, 2023 at MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater, Denver, CO
Second performances March 8&14, 2025 Cape Town Opera, Cape Town, South Africa
Atlas of Remote Islands is a contemporary story of self discovery through armchair travel on the pages of a mysterious book.
This book is an atlas of fifty real, remote islands, stuffed with maps and prose-poem stories, more for the imagination than for navigation and offering more questions than answers. The audience experiences the histories and facts, lore and fantasies of these islands through the eyes of this main character—who in exploring distant worlds through the pages of the atlas unlocks worlds within themself.
Denver Premiere produced and co-realized by Opera on Tap Colorado Presented by MCA Denver at the Holiday Theatre, Denver, CO
Premiere cast and crew: Voices: Erin Trampler Bell, Jerome Síbulo, Dana Kinney, Margaret Ozaki Graves, Adam Ewing, John Murray, Leah Podzimek; Cameo: Julie Silver Campbell
Piano and music director: Jessica Kressin; Clarinet: Jason Olney; Percussion: Grayson Fiske
Directed by Margaret Siegrist, lead creative Nathan Hall
Lighting Design: Sean Campbell, Lightworx Tech; Video and audio by Derick Shaw
Projections by Drew Austin; Vintage slides courtesy Whit Steele
South Africa premiere produced and directed by Cape Town Opera.