Ouroboros Trilogy Team on Upcoming NEC Workshops

New England Conservatory is proud to present two student piano/vocal workshops featuring operas in the newly developed Ouroboros Trilogy. Led by NEC Chair of Opera Studies Joshua Major as well as members of the Trilogy’s creative team: creator and librettist Cerise Jacobs (in photo); world-renowned composers Paola Prestini (Gilgamesh) and Scott Wheeler (Naga); and dramaturg Cori Ellison, the workshops will conclude in two free public piano/vocal presentations of each opera: Naga on October 30 at 8:30 PM and November 1 at 3 PM, and Gilgamesh on November 22 at 3 PM and November 23 at 7 PM, all in NEC’s Brown Hall. The workshops will help to develop the works for their September 2016 premiere, as part of the complete Ouroboros Trilogy at Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theatre.

Conceived by Charles M. Jacobs and Cerise Lim Jacobs with composers Scott Wheeler (Naga), Zhou Long (Madame White Snake), and Paola Prestini (Gilgamesh), the Ouroboros Trilogy is a three-part exploration of life, death and rebirth, as symbolized by the ancient Greek icon of a serpent eating its own tail. The Ouroboros Trilogy is co-produced by Beth Morrison Projects and the Friends of Madame White Snake. Michael Counts is the director and production designer for the 2016 Trilogy premiere.

About Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh centers around Ming, a half-demon son of Madame White Snake. Ming was abandoned during his mother’s epic battle with the Abbot. He encounters his mother for the first time in her human form while she is imprisoned by the Abbot in the Golden Mountain Monastery. She reveals his birthright—the power to control the waters—and begs him to use this power to save her. Ming returns home to find that his wife has just given birth to a white, iridescent baby girl who resembles her grandmother. He gives the baby to the green snake, who had saved him when his mother was defeated. He returns to the Monastery. A robe and empty alms bowl are all that are left. Ming dons the robe, takes the alms bowl and leaves.

About Naga

Naga is the story of a young Monk who renounces everything to find nirvana. The White Snake encounters him as he is saying goodbye to his wife. The couple’s grief moves her and she longs to experience such powerful emotion. The Monk encounters a demon, who tempts him three times. The Monk resists the first two attacks, but his resistance weakens during the third. The White Snake stops him from turning back and leads him to a renowned healer, who takes him in as an apprentice. When the Master discovers the White Snake, he recognizes her magic—she is the answer to his prayers for the salvation of the world; anyone who eats of her will be healed. The Monk, however, believes that she should be free so the universe will have beauty and uniqueness. The Master orders him to hold the White Snake so he can sacrifice her. In the ensuing struggle, the Monk releases the snake and the Master is stabbed.

About Beth Morrison Projects

Beth Morrison Projects identifies and supports the work of emerging and established composers and their collaborators through the commission, development, production, and touring of their work, taking the form of opera-theatre, music-theatre, and multimedia concert works. Founded in 2006, BMP rapidly developed a reputation for “envisioning new possibilities and finding ways to facilitate their realization” (New York Times). In ten years, BMP has commissioned, developed, and produced more than 45 operas and music-theatre works that have premiered or been performed in New York, across the country, and around the globe. BMP is led by Creative Producer Beth Morrison, who holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees and a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Management from the Yale School of Drama, and is the co-founder and co-director of the highly successful PROTOTYPE Festival in New York City. BMP is the realization of Beth’s vision, which stems from a deep commitment to nurturing composers and other artists and fostering the development of new opera and other new music-theatre works. The Wall Street Journal wrote, "Ms. Morrison may be immortalized one day as a 21st-century Diaghilev, known for her ability to assemble memorable collaborations among artists."

Q&As with Cerise Jacobs, Paola Prestini, Scott Wheeler, and Beth Morrison

Co-Creator/Librettist: Cerise Jacobs

The completion of the Ouroboros Trilogy symbolizes an incredible personal journey for you. Can you talk a bit about that?

Yes. Ouroboros Trilogy began ten years ago as a simple song cycle with my husband Charles, my artistic partner, muse, severest critic and most loving supporter. He believed in me and in our ability as individuals to bring beauty into this world. Having someone believe so passionately in my crazy vision was infectious. He made me believe too! Together, we worked to turn this vision into reality starting with Madame White Snake, which premiered in February 2010.

When Charles was hospitalized a few months after the Boston premiere, in September 2010, he took my hand and said, “Cerise, when I get out of this f___ing hospital, we’re going to do more great and wonderful things.” I asked him, “What great and wonderful things?” And he said to me, “All your operas, the whole Trilogy, all together.” Except one precious day, Charles never came out of the f___ing hospital.

When Charles died, something died in me too. I no longer believed I could transform reality. After all, what could I, a lawyer, possibly know about creating and producing opera? I was filled with doubt, the killer of all things creative. Doubt screamed failure so loudly that I couldn’t hear any other voices. When doubt took over, I stopped believing; I became afraid to face the possibility of failure that comes with making new things. When I could no longer believe in Ouroboros, my vision for it simply disappeared.

The third anniversary of Charles’s death was a psychological turning point. It felt as if he kicked me in the butt and told me to get on with it. It was difficult for me to rise above the morass of self-doubt, anxiety, and paralysis from three years of aimlessness, but the memory of Charles is a ruthless taskmaster, cracking the whip whenever I stopped writing. Perhaps all that happened was the old cliché about time being the great healer. But I’d like to think that Charles was, and is, always a part of this, our first great project together. With encouragement and support from dear friends and collaborators, Beth Morrison and Cori Ellison, I began to finish what Charles and I had started. When the Ouroboros Trilogy premieres in September 2016, it will have been eleven years from conception. It will premiere as an all-day marathon of three operas, just as Charles and I envisioned it so long ago.

What do you hope NEC students will experience during the workshop and take away from it?

The students will experience opera as a living art form as they work with me and composers Scott Wheeler and Paola Prestini to develop the music and dramatic arc of the two new works. Working with living creators allows students to understand, at a fundamental level, the musical and dramatic choices that have gone into creating the works, to really delve into the creative process. We’re also very fortunate to have Cori Ellison, one of the best dramaturgs working today in new opera, on our team. Cori is going to educate us about dramaturgy and expose the inner workings of these operas, from the production end as well as the writing and dramaturgy itself.

I also want the students to see how collaborative our process is. The development of Ouroboros is unique, not just because of its scope and complexity, but because it requires the ultimate in collaboration from every member of our creative team. The students are going to be a critical part of this team; they will be the first to get the show up and participate in molding, shaping, and transforming it.

I want to recruit chorus members and covers from the student singers, if possible. It is important for students to have real gigs early on in their careers and be treated as professionals who are paid for their work. I also foresee performance opportunities in the community as we ramp up our community outreach programs. I hope these real-life opportunities enhance the students’ experience at NEC.

Once ready to be viewed, how might the performance impact your audience? How might it change their lives?

I want to change audience attitudes about new opera. Instead of something they have to gird themselves to sit through, I hope they’ll find Ouroboros thought-provoking, engaging, entertaining, wonderful, and awesome on many levels. At a minimum, I hope they’ll thoroughly enjoy themselves!

On a deeper level, Ouroboros deals with universal and mythic themes in all our lives—love, loss, betrayal, the unknown, the ineffable … In our day-to-day lives, we seldom have the opportunity to reflect on these themes even though we live them minute by minute. As the audience encounters these issues in the larger-than-life reality that good opera has the power to create, I hope they will be swept up by the music and drama to suspend disbelief. For it is the suspension of disbelief that opens each one of us to the possibilities within us and empowers us to emerge from the theater excited at having lived our inner lives fully, for a moment.

Would you like to add anything else?

NEC is fortunate to have visionary leaders such as Josh Major and Interim President, Provost and Dean Tom Novak. I’ll never forget the snowy day I walked into Josh’s office, a stranger coming in from the cold. I laid out my crazy idea; Josh said, “Brilliant!” and then, “How can I help?” And from that initial introduction, Ouroboros at NEC began.

Josh could see the potential benefits to his students from the get-go. I didn’t have to sell him on it. And Josh and Tom could see the wider benefits of this partnership for the Boston community. It’s often said that it takes a village to raise one child; well, in the case of Ouroboros, it takes a whole city, the City of Boston! NEC was the first in a city-wide collaboration which now includes ArtsEmerson, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Children’s Museum, and many more. The impact this enterprise will have on the development, nurturing, and growth of new opera in our City cannot be gainsaid.

I could not bring Ouroboros to fruition without the courage, resources, expertise, and commitment of the artists, coaches, students, and dedicated professionals at this great institution. I am forever grateful to Josh, Tom and NEC for embracing my vision and taking this leap with me.

Gilgamesh Composer: Paola Prestini

Why were you interested in working on this project?

I was interested in doing this project because I felt ready to embark on a full opera and Cerise's text, with its layers, references, depth, and poetic approach gave enough structure but left enough freedom for me to fully dive in. In addition, I love the concept of the Trilogy, and enjoy being part of larger collaborative teams. And I have a long history of working with BMP, they have been huge supporters of my work—I believe in Beth's taste and work fiercely!

In terms of composition, what is special about the Ouroboros Trilogy?

I have been writing for the voice for years but this is the first opportunity I have had to write a full-scale opera. The fact it is part of a trilogy is even more exciting because the themes and motifs occur in each opera but are interpreted musically by each creator. I think when one has the opportunity to see all three works back to back they will see the enormity of what Cerise has created, and how the world she has envisioned works.

What are the highlights from Gilgamesh for you?

For me the highlights are the choral sections and how they support the work, the main characters (who are all extraordinary) and the structure of the piece. The energy of the first three acts is met with an epilogue that in my mind will deeply resonate and will allow the viewer to meditate on the action that has occurred. And I am super excited to work with Michael Counts! He is a visionary director.

What do you hope NEC students will learn from working with you?

I think we will learn from each other! I am excited to work with them on the vocal writing and pacing to make sure the dramaturgy comes through. This first phase is such a special process and I am thrilled to get to do it in a learning environment and at NEC.

Naga Composer: Scott Wheeler

Why were you interested in working on this project?

My immediate attraction to the libretto of Naga was its operatic quality, the way it insists that voices sing at the same time. That’s one of the most exciting aspects of opera, and not enough librettists take advantage of those possibilities. A first read-through of Cerise Jacobs’s libretto for Naga made it clear that this was not merely a play or a poem or a scenario for some sort of scenic display but a real opera, with passionate characters given words that sing.

In terms of composition, what is special about the Ouroboros Trilogy?

I don’t think anyone has ever done this before—three connected operas by one librettist and three different composers. As with the Wagner Ring Cycle that is a clear antecedent to this work, each opera creates its own world, yet there are all sorts of connecting strands and deepening emotional resonances the more one listens.

What are the highlights from Naga for you?

I’m not sure a composer should answer that question—if I were a novelist, I don’t think I’d be wise to tell people my favorite chapter before people have read the book. I can say, though, that the most engrossing aspect of writing Naga has been the creation of multiple levels of dramatic reality: not just characters having different points of view but immortal characters interacting with mortals, choral interjections from different theatrical and metaphysical realities, mythic landscapes with battles and desolation, all conceived by Cerise in ways that are grounded in psychological and dramatic reality. It sounds complicated, but I think any audience will immediately respond to this combination of rich texture and direct action.

What do you hope NEC students will learn from working with you?

NEC students have more chances to work with living composers than many classical performers do, but every student gains by working directly with composers. Once you’ve seen in rehearsal how deeply and carefully composers have considered their specific notation of tempo or dynamics or phrasing, and at the same time how flexibly they interpret these things in the heat of rehearsal and performance, you have a much solider basis for studying and performing music from other times and places. When I coach student singers, my particular focus is likely to be on details of rhythm and diction that can seem sort of picky but that help to build a foundation of musical and dramatic honesty. Once we have that foundation, the audience can accept the extremes of operatic style—not just accept these extremes, but see their necessity in opera, how they express parts of ourselves that we can share in no other way.

Would you like to add anything else?

Cerise is building on operatic tradition in this Trilogy, taking on the great themes of spiritual ideals, the inevitable human failure of those ideals, and passion that conflicts with the limits of reality, including the reality of death. These are recurring themes in the history of opera, but anyone encountering Cerise’s work will recognize it as modern. My music takes the same approach, drawing on many devices from the history of opera but putting them together in ways I haven’t heard before.

Creative Producer, Beth Morrison

How does a student workshop add to the development of a production of this level?

The workshop is meant exclusively for the composers to be able to hear the work live. You can imagine it in your mind and hear a MIDI recording, but nothing is a substitute for real singers and players. Working with an academic institution provides a fiscally responsible way to provide this feedback and also helps to connect in to a younger generation of musicians, for whom contemporary work should be a part of their studies.

How does a student benefit from working with a score that is evolving with their help?

Mozart, Beethoven, and the other great composers of the canon are not alive to ask questions to. Having the opportunity to work with a composer in real time is invaluable to understanding the music in a fundamental way.

What about NEC is interesting to you for this project?

NEC offers musicians at a very high level and also a director of opera—Josh Major—who is forward-thinking and interested in exposing his students to interesting opera projects with living composers.

Would you like to add anything else?

I am very grateful to NEC and Josh Major for embarking on this journey with us.