06: Hometown to the World: Discovering "Postville" with Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed

Key Change

"Postville: Hometown to the World" almost didn't happen -- at least not as part of Opera for All Voices.

The true and timely story of immigrant workers in a Kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant that was raided by ICE in 2008 in the town of Postville, Iowa felt too large in scope for the OFAV framework -- 3 singers, small pit orchestra, 90-minutes or less with no intermission, to be scaleable for different sized opera companies and venues...

But, composer Laura Kaminsky's passionate personal connection to the story and librettist Kimberly Reed's track record as an adept documentarian and filmmaker inspired the OFAV team to defy the odds and take a chance.

The second Opera for All Voices (OFAV) commission, "Postville: Hometown to the World", is scheduled to premiere in the Fall of 2020 at the San Francisco Opera.

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Special music in this episode used with permission by Laura Kaminsky.

Wave Hill – III. Arbores Venerabiles. Ensemble Pi, Idith Meshulam, piano

Wappinger Creek, Hudson River Valley, from Horizon Lines, for oboe, bassoon and piano. Live performance from Seattle Chamber Music Festival.

Duo for Flute and Piano: Mvt. I. – Tara Helen O'Connor, flute, Margaret Kampmeier, piano

To know, from As One, multi-media chamber opera. Taylor Raven, mezzo soprano and Brian Vu, baritone. Live performance from Pittsburgh Opera.

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Key Change is a production of The Santa Fe Opera in collaboration with Opera For All Voices.

Produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios

Hosts: Andrea Fellows Walters and Brandon Neal

Audio Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Theme music by Rene Orth with Corrie Stallings, mezzo-soprano, and Joe Becktell, cello.

Cover art by David Tousley

Special thanks to The Relic Room, NYC.

OFAV Consortium Members: Lyric Opera for Kansas City, Minnesota Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, San Francisco Opera, Sarasota Opera and Seattle Opera.

This podcast is made possible due to the generous funding from the Melville Hankins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and an OPERA America Innovation Grant, supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

To learn more about Opera for all voices, visit us at SantaFeOpera.org