Tales from a Safe Distance - Episode 3: So Noble a Heart

About this event

Ten friends last saw one another on a starlit rooftop in Florence. Now, their only way to share a toast is via a video call from their pandemic lockdown locations. How to pass the time when no one has new developments to share? Make up stories!

Tales from a Safe Distance is a 21st century operatic adaptation of Boccaccio’s 14th century novel “The Decameron”, in an unprecedented co-creation from the newly formed Decameron Opera Coalition.  These nine innovative opera companies from across the U.S. commissioned ten creative teams and engaged dozens of artists from around the world to create this new opera anthology, including a special guest star, world renowned bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni.

Episode 3 - So Noble a Heart - 35 minutes

In lockdown, lovers are separated, individuals are stuck face to face with their demons, and unhealthy partnerships are pushed past the breaking point. This episode examines love yearned for, love tainted, and love that perhaps never really was.  The virtual story sharing of “The Happy Hour” goes on: Love transcends life and death in Fila’s tale,  “Orsa Ibernata”. Revenge leads to madness in Elena’s  “Seven Spells”, and in “The Sky Where You Are”, Jo shows how the love of a friend reaches through an all-too-real darkness.

Decameron Opera Coalition’s Tales From A Safe Distance: purchase tickets for any one episode and you will automatically receive FREE access to all four episodes. The tickets will appear automatically in your account when you purchase any one event in the Tales From A Safe Distance series:

Link to Episode 1 - Both Gladsome and Grievous

Link to Episode 2 - Prompted by Appetite

Link to Episode 4 - The Bolts of Fortune

For more information about casts and artist biographies for each tale, please visit www.DecameronOperaCoalition.org

This stream is available to watch until Friday, December 31, 2024.

Programme

- Episode 3 - So Noble a Heart - 35 minutes

Repertoire

The Happy Hour

by Peter Hilliard and Matt Boresi

Commissioned by the Decameron Opera Coalition

Based on the ten narrators of Bocaccio’s Decameron, The Happy Hour features internationally renowned bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, and characters from each of this opera’s tales.

Orsa Ibernata

by Elizabeth Blood and Danny Brylow

Inspired by The Decameron Day 4, Story 1 & Day 4, Story 9

Commissioned by Milwaukee Opera Theatre - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

When a clandestine love affair begets tragic consequences, a woman resolves to reunite with her lost love, even at the price of death. Freely adapted from two of The Decameron’s most closely-related stories, “Orsa Ibernata” traces an emotionally penetrating journey through violence and heartbreak to spiritual transcendence against the backdrop of an ethereal and enigmatic woodland surrounding.

Seven Spells

by Donia Jarrar

Inspired by The Decameron Day 8, Story 7

Commissioned by Opera in the Heights - Houston, Texas

A celebrity named Elena joins an online dating service in search of some fun while stringing along another man. The tabloids snap some photos of her and it enrages her current lover, who seeks revenge through public humiliation. This concert aria takes on a dark and sinister quality and hints at mental health issues brought about by public humiliation of female celebrities.

The Sky Where You Are

by Maria Thompson Corley and Jenny O’Connell

in collaboration with Brenisen Wheeler, Women’s Advocates

Commissioned by An Opera Theatre - Minneapolis, Minnesota

Reyna has locked herself in her bathroom in order to contact her childhood friend, Jo. Reyna reveals to Jo for the first time that her husband has been emotionally abusive for years, and now, in the seclusion of quarantine, his abuse has turned physical. Reyna has decided to take the necessary steps to try and leave her abuser for a third time. With her husband becoming suspicious of the running shower, help, answers, and a plan are needed. Time is of the essence.

The Sky Where You Are was conceived in collaboration with Minnesota organization Women’s Advocates, the first shelter in the nation for women and their children escaping domestic violence. This opera calls awareness to women in domestic violence relationships now trapped at home with their abusers during the COVID-19 quarantine and explores what to do when you are called upon to provide aid and support as a friend or family member in a domestic abuse situation.