Hello from sunny Southern California!

Tonight, don’t miss the YouTube premiere of the east coast concert opera production of Girondines (an opera featuring music by me and libretto by Kirsten C. Kunkle). This YouTube Premiere will feature subtitles as well as Live Chat with myself and other production team members. This concert is being released as part of Wilmington Concert Opera (WCO)’s Dr. William and Mrs. Dawn Will Schlotterer Virtual Recital Series. Tune in tonight (August 16) at 4pm Pacific / 7pm Eastern:

Girondines, based on historical fact, is a new opera which focuses on the story of French Revolutionaries who presumably knew one another, met in secret before the Reign of Terror, and supported one another during the political upheaval. All six of the revolutionaries are women, and of these, three are guillotined and three live. I composed the opera’s score and crafted electronic soundscapes to intertwine with the music.

*Who’s Who in tonight’s WCO YouTube Premiere*

• Charlotte Corday…………………………………………….………………………..Kirsten C. Kunkle
• Olympe de Gouges…………………………………………………………………………Ashley Becker
• Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier……………………………………Marisa Robinson
• Madame Manon Roland…………………………….……………………..Alyssa Maria Lehman
• Madame Germaine de Staël……………………..……………………………Raffaella Lo Castro
• Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun……………….……………………………………..Tracy Sturgis
• Pianist/Music Director/Technical Director/Subtitles……………..Sarah Van Sciver
• Cellist………………………………………………………………………………………………..Melissa Brun
• Violinist…………………………………………..……………………………………………….Thuy Nguyen
• Video Production………………………….…………………………………………………..John Palmer
• Audio Production………………………………………………………………………….Andreas Meyer
• Stage Manager……………………………..………………………………………Johanna Lynn Jones
• Photographer……………………………..………….………….………………………………..Julie Smith
• Graphic Design…………………………..………….………..…………………………………..Jason Dick

WCO and I acknowledge, celebrate, and salute not only the evening (Album) premiere cast, but also the matinee cast from this Girondines production: Suzannah Waddington, Laurice Simmons Kennel, Alyssa Brode, Allison Elizabeth Deady, Kaitlyn Beth Tierney, and Annie Gill.

An opera by women for women singers, the timeless, tragic Girondines tale epitomizes inequities, turmoil, abuse, and violence with which women continue to wrestle, struggling for autonomy of mind, body, and soul. Women worldwide pursuing science, literature, arts, and activism are still threatened. Opera itself is one of the battlegrounds on which women still fight to be fairly represented and treated in life and art. Vive la résistance!

Want to bring this show to your opera company, theater company, college, or high school? Send me an email if you are interested in learning about opportunities to help facilitate a production championing women, new music, opera, diversity, equity, inclusion, access, education, history, and contemporary art.

You can stream the Wilmington Concert Opera Original Cast Recording album via AmazonMusic, Spotify, AppleMusic, Pandora, YouTubeMusic, and more… Physical CD copies of the album are available, too:

Album proceeds benefit the opera’s composer-librettist team (myself and Kirsten C. Kunkle) as well as WCO, an exclusively woman- and minority-run company. For those curious to compare outcomes of online vs. physical CD enjoyment: album streaming online results in fraction-of-cent proceeds for artists vs. physical CD purchases generating artist income in whole dollars. (Plus you’d have a beautiful keepsake which features cover art by yours truly 🎶 – there are even some autographed copies available for purchase!)

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For folks involved with voice, opera, theater, musical theater, or performing arts venues, companies, festivals, or university programs, please send me a message if you’re interested in exploring opportunities to have your own reading, concert, or staging of Girondines. A piano-vocal reduction score will be released soon!

And for those seeking copies of my earlier albums (songwriting EPs Ophelia’s Song and Puzzle Pieces plus instrumental EP Overture to an Adventure or my Canon in D – Harp Trio Single), visit the platforms listed above for streaming and digital downloads, or order physical CDs here.

Cheers,

Sarah