World Premiere:
Friday, April 18th, 2025
Paulson Center, New York University
Full performance live stream (including Brauer’s The Infinite Lives of Frog and Scorpion)
THE WAY THE SKY LOOKS
Hannah Nikka Odsinada, librettist
Matthew Shreve, composer
Legazpi, Philippines: an empty house in the country. The dark before sunrise. A woman on a lawn chair, dressed in black. A bouquet of roses. From the brush, a deer approaches. A short chamber opera exploring loss, perspective, and countless lives lived beneath a single sky.
Characters
Daughter (Jin Alonzo - Mezzo-Soprano), a human: young, Filipino-American. Drained by the sting of grief.
Deer (Mary Rose Go - Soprano), a deer: aging, twig-like, with a spotted brown coat. Alert, curious.
Location
The front yard of a large house on the rural edge of Legazpi, a city in Albay, Philippines.
Time
In recent memory / long enough ago to be a dream / recent enough to sting
Content Note
This piece engages with familial trauma in the aftermath of a death in the family. With that in mind, the intended focus is meant to be on the healing that follows.
Production Notes
We welcome all potential ways of physically characterizing Deer as a deer, including but not limited to the use of masks, costumes, puppetry, lighting, dance, etc.
The librettist requests that singers of Southeast Asian descent perform the role of Daughter; a connection to the Philippines is preferred but not required.
Conductor
Miranda Scripp
Orchestra
Malaika Paralkar, flute
Johann Palo, clarinet
Adam Harrington, horn
Kelsey Choi, percussion
Jason Brauer, piano
Angel Guanga, violin
Chloe Johnson, violin
Ethan Tajalle, viola
Noelia Carrasco, cello
Artwork
Jennifer Ewing
Bats Langley
Jonathan Narmita
Hannah Nikka Odsinada
Matthew Shreve
Brady Thomas
Puppet Designer
Nickolas D’Annunzio
Filipino Translation
Agnes "Bing" Magtoto
Dobi Veloso
Jay Marasigan
Angela De Marie Garcia
This translation, with initial drafts completed by three members of Manila Collective (Dobi Veloso, Jay Marasigan, and Angela De Marie Garcia), was consolidated and edited by Agnes "Bing" Magtoto. Language choice was guided by an orientation meeting with the composer and regular consultations with the librettist to establish context and intention.
In the dialogue of DAUGHTER, a Filipino American, code-switching is present. Sentences in Filipino are simple and colloquial with English words sprinkled in. A few original lines in English were kept to emphasize her thought process.
Hannah Nikka Odsinada is a writer and soprano based in Seattle, Washington. Her stories have been commissioned by Washington National Opera (American Opera Initiative) and Seattle Opera (Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab), and she has performed on stages across the Pacific Northwest. Influenced by an extensive education in voice and theatre, their libretti has been described as imaginative, women-centered, and “ripe for a stage.” On other stages, they play guitar and sing backing vocals for singer-songwriter Elizabeth Anne. BM Vocal Performance. www.hannahnikkaodsinada.com
Matthew Shreve is a Seattle-based composer (currently living in New York City) whose music has been performed by ensembles and soloists across the United States. Their composition “A Lover” has been published by North Star Music, LLC. Their works have been featured in performances by Fresh Squeezed Opera, Opus 7 Choral Ensemble, Tucson Symphony, and Tucson Repertory Orchestra. Shreve is pursuing a Master of Music in concert composition at New York University Steinhardt, studying with Julia Wolfe, Shelley Washington, and Justin Dello Joio. Shreve's compositions are characterized by their lyrical, intimate, and expressive qualities.
Miranda Scripp is concluding her Bachelor of Music at New York University, studying Music Theory and Composition with a concentration in Screen Scoring. She is a multi-instrumentalist, having studied piano with Jonathan Bass, and violin with Kelly Barr at New England Conservatory. Miranda has composed numerous scores for film, musical theater, concert works, and ballet. In 2023, she was commissioned by American Repertory Ballet to write an a original work which has since been presented at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, and live at the Princeton Festival. Already an experienced conductor, Miranda has conducted numerous recording sessions as well as live performances of her own work and that of her peers. For the last two seasons, she has been a conducting trainee at Philadelphia Ballet, where she has conducted segments of the Nutcracker in performance at the Academy of Music. Equally dedicated to composing and performing, Miranda has been a member of the Grammy-winning New York Youth Symphony and the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and has performed multiple times at Carnegie Hall and Boston’s Symphony Hall.
Jin Alonzo holds a BFA in Vocal Performance from Loyola University Chicago. While attending Loyola University, Jin served as the Musika chair in Kapwa Loyola, held an internship at Intercultural Music focusing on arts hospitality, and also participated in the EcoVoice project which showcased contemporary pieces about nature. Although their main focus of music in school was classical music, they also love focusing on East Asian music based on their upbringing in their first voice lesson studio. Born and raised in Chicago, they were exposed to a lot of the Chicago arts scene, including having a background in performing with the Chicago Children’s Choir as well as holding an internship with Chicago A’cappella. In their free time, they love sitting at their piano at home and figuring out various pieces by ear.
Born in Los Angeles and raised in Honolulu, Mary Rose Go is a coloratura soprano and actress. Recent opera credits include Tsering in Ga Sho (American Opera Project), Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel (Opera on Tap’s Playground Opera). Recent theater credits include Cynthia/Elizabeth in 2nd Murderer (SoHo Shakespeare Company Table Read), Moifa/Lord Twede/Chaos Titan Behemoth in The Fantastical Fellowship: Final Quest for the Crisis Crystal XXVII (Frigid NYC) and Ninny/Hagen in Der Ring Gott Farblonjet (Columbia University MFA Directing Thesis). Find her alter ego, Auntie Mary Rose, on YouTube with wacky original kids songs about gardening and nature. IG: @shortnmorose
Deer is excited to make their operatic debut. They would like to thank their dear herd for their support. To help my conservation and that of other endangered Philippine species, you can find more information at Katala Foundation.
Special Thanks
To my composition mentors, Shelley Washington, Justin Dello Joio, and Julia Wolfe, thank you for your guidance and musical insight over the past two years, which have helped me grow as an artist. To Robert Honstein, thank you for being a mentor and advisor, and for helping to make this production possible. To Areyn Santillan, thank you for being a calming presence and tech guru throughout this process. To Thomas Doczi, thank you for working with us to ensure our tech runs smoothly.
Thank you to Hannah for writing an incredibly lush short story. Your work has so much depth and nuance, and it’s been an honor to write music to your words. Thank you to Miranda for taking on this project, helping to build the orchestra, and pulling it together with the musicians. Thank you to Jin and Mary Rose for bringing the characters to life and helping to inspire so many of the musical choices.
Thank you to the fantastic artists, musicians, and translators who have brought this vision to life. It began as a small idea over a year ago, when Hannah shared a short story with me, and it has evolved into an incredible production that has brought together many wonderful people.
Thank you to my mother, Cathy Counts, and my partner, Korey Traynor, for their ongoing support of this endeavor and my work. As well as all the other donors who helped to make this production possible: Amanda, Ratatoskr Yggdrasil, Aaron, Andrew, Brian Bear, Mike Powers, Billy & Tina, Alex GC, and an anonymous patron.
And to Jason, thank you for being a fellow opera nerd and attending shows with me over the past two years. Here’s to many more world premieres from both of us.
—Matthew Shreve