In Its 12 th Season Guerilla Opera Appoints New Artistic Directors

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Clive Grainger, executive director clivegrainger@guerillaopera.org (866) 615-2723 Ext. 2 Download high res photos at: https://www.dropbox.

dl=0 In Its 12 th Season Guerilla Opera Appoints New Artistic Directors BOSTON, MA (October 25, 2018) In their twelfth season, Guerilla Opera s board of directors appoints Aliana de la Guardia and

1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Clive Grainger, executive director (866) Ext. 2 Download high res photos at: In Its 12 th Season Guerilla Opera Appoints New Artistic Directors BOSTON, MA (October 25, 2018) In their twelfth season, Guerilla Opera s board of directors appoints Aliana de la Guardia and Julia Noulin-Mérat as co-artistic directors. De la Guardia and Noulin-Mérat have been working together to produce the experimental company s world premiere operas and productions since Together, now they will serve as the faces of the company. Aliana de la Guardia is a classical singer, actor, and producer hailed by The Boston Globe as vocally fearless and fizzing with theatrical commitment. The Cuban-American performer is an avid performer of new music, appearing with on programs from the Boston Conservatory New Music Festival, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Beth Morrison Projects, Center for Contemporary Opera, Firebird Ensemble, Harvard Group for New Music, I/O Ensemble, Ludovico Ensemble, New Gallery Concert Series, and the PARMA Festival. She has performed in over twenty new operas and as a co-founding artist and general manager of Guerilla Opera, she has co-produced and premiered fifteen new operas with roles written specifically for her. She has been twice nominated as Best Actress in an Opera by ArtsImpulse for roles premiered with Guerilla Opera. De la Guardia comments: This role is distinctly different from my last one, focusing much more on the artistic side of Guerilla Opera and how we engage with the community. I m excited to continue our outreach regarding accessibility and well as continuing the several projects we have in development. Julia and I have been working together for this company for a long time. We re great friends and work exceptionally well together. This is a great pairing and I m excited at the possibilities. In addition to her work as Director of Design and Production for Guerilla Opera, Noulin-Mérat is an international production designer and the founder of Noulin-Mérat Studio, an intrepid NYC production design firm that specializes in Theater, Film & TV, with an emphasis in Opera and immersive site specific theatre. She has designed over 350 opera, theater and television productions, including 15 world premiere operas and 22 new plays and produced 50 shows. The long-time producer comments: I have been the head of production with Guerilla Opera for 10 years now and I am thrilled to embark on this new era with the perfect co-artistic directing partner. I look forward to getting to know our audience better and helping create more exciting new works and projects to the American repertoire. When the company was founded, percussionist Mike Williams and composer Rudolf Rojahn acted as co-artistic directors, partners who were equally responsible for shaping the artistic vision of the group. In 2016 Rojahn relocated with his family and Mike Williams upheld the artistic directorship. He notes:

After 11 years as the artistic director of Guerilla Opera I am thrilled to pass on this leadership to the two brilliant women with whom I have worked so closely during that time.

2 After 11 years as the artistic director of Guerilla Opera I am thrilled to pass on this leadership to the two brilliant women with whom I have worked so closely during that time. Aliana and Julia have been instrumental in everything we have accomplished and I know that they have progressive ideas which will invigorate our programming and move Guerilla Opera forward. Williams will still serve Guerilla Opera as a producer and on the board of directors. As a performing member of the ensemble, audiences can still expect to see his virtuosic playing featured in future operas. The company also welcomes new board members Andrea Laws, a financial professional from the Moody Street Group, David Frank, Vice President of Design and Innovation at C Space, as well as from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee Nathan Troup, Associate Professor of Opera, and Jonathan Bailey Holland, Chair of Composition, Contemporary Music, and Core Studies. For more information visit Guerilla Opera online at follow them on social media and join the conversation using #Rumpelstiltskin and #GOSeason12. ### Artistic Directors Julia Noulin-Mérat and Aliana de la Guardia. Photo by Tim Gurczak (2018) Page 2 of 6

3 Aliana de la Guardia in Gallo with production design by Julia Noulin-Mérat. Photo by Liz Linder Photography (2014) Artistic Directors Julia Noulin-Mérat and Aliana de la Guardia. Photo by Tim Gurczak (2018) Page 3 of 6

4 ABOUT JULIA NOULIN-MÉRAT Julia Noulin-Mérat is a triple American, Canadian and French citizen. She is an international production designer and the founder of Noulin-Mérat Studio, an intrepid NYC production design firm that specializes in Theater, Film & TV, with an emphasis in Opera and immersive site specific theatre. In addition to her work as Associate Producer for Boston Lyric Opera, she is a co-artistic director for Guerilla Opera, and resident set designer for Attic Theater and Exit, Pursued By a Bear in New York. She has designed over 350 opera, theater and television productions, including 15 new operas and 22 new plays and produced 50 shows. She has commissioned new works from composers; Hannah Lash, Andy Vores, Adam Roberts. Noulin-Mérat earned ArtsImpulse's Theatre Award Best Boston Set Design for her production of The Rape of Lucretia and Best Opera for Gallo, and designed NY Times critic's pick These Seven Sicknesses and the Light Princess. She was nominated for the Rising Star Award in design. She was selected to participate at the USITT Young Designers Forum in Houston, Texas. She won the honorable mention/ Barbizon Award for her design of the production First Blush and was selected to participate at the First Word Stage Design Exhibition in Toronto. She designed for NYC The Drama League for 6 years. These past two years, she was nominated by Broadwayworld for best set design for her productions of Hairspray and Legally Blonde with Summer Theatre New Canaan. Noulin-Mérat has a BFA from Concordia University, Montreal, in Design for the Theatre, a MSc in Arts Administration for Performing Arts from Boston University; and an MFA in Scenic Design from Boston University. In addition to her degrees, she has studied at Central Saint Martins in London and University of the Arts in Philadelphia. With TEDx UNO, she has given a lecture on Opera as a modern art form. Noulin-Mérat has taught and lectured at Yale University, Boston University, Northeastern University, Suny Albany, Perpedine University, and is currently an adjunct professor at Pace University. Select opera work: Clemency, La Traviata, Tosca, The Rake's Progress, In the Penal Colony, The Threepenny Opera (Boston Lyric Opera), Bluebeard's Castle, Cosi Fan Tutte, Tosca (Opera Omaha), Madama Butterfly (Opera New Jersey, El Paso Opera); Xerxes (Connecticut Early Music Festival, Northampton Academy of Music); Lucia di Lammermoor, Cosi Fan Tutte (Commonwealth Opera); Carmen (Buck Hill Skytop Music Festival); Giver of Light, Bovinus Rex, Loose Wet Perforated, Heart of a Dog, Say it Ain't So, Joe!, Gallo, Troubled Water, No Exit (Guerilla Opera), The Barber of Seville (BU Opera Institute), The Elixir of Love, Cold Sassy Tree (Sugarcreek Festival), L'Heure Espagnole, L'Enfant et les Sortileges, Transformations, The Rape of Lucretia, Eugene Onegin (Boston Conservatory); L'Heure Espagnole, Scalia/Ginsburg (Castleton Festival); Little Red Riding Hood and The Telephone (Opera Boston); Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Loftopera), Susannah (Ashlawn Opera); The Return of Ulysses (Opera Omnia); La Descente d'oprhee (Gotham Chamber Opera); Rigoletto (Minnesota Opera). Select theatre work: Penelope of Ithaca, November (Hangar Theatre), The Notebook of Trigorin, Dark Rapture, Moonchildren, The Argument, The Tutors, Jericho (Attic Theatre), These Seven Sicknesses, Lesser Mercies, King Lear, Arok of Java, Greater Angels (Exit, Pursued By A Bear); Haunted House (Audax Theatre- Irish Art Centre), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Gerald Lynch Theatre- LCT), Dark Play or Stories for Boys, Memory House and The Firebugs (Apollinaire Theatre); Neighbors (Company One); These Seven Sicknesses -NY TIMES CRITIC'S PICK, Restoration Comedy (The Flea Theater). Page 4 of 6

Select musical work: Sweeney Todd (Gerald Lynch Theatre- LCT); Rocky Horror Show (Hangar Theatre); Legally Blonde, Grease, Hairspray (nominated for Best Set Design in Connecticut), South Pacific,

5 Select musical work: Sweeney Todd (Gerald Lynch Theatre- LCT); Rocky Horror Show (Hangar Theatre); Legally Blonde, Grease, Hairspray (nominated for Best Set Design in Connecticut), South Pacific, Kiss Me Kate (STONC). Select young audience works: The Light Princess (New Victory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre- NY TIMES CRITIC'S PICK); The Pirate Princess (American Repertory Theatre); Click Clack Moo, Pinkalicious, Homer Figg (Orlando Repertory Theatre); Androcles and the Lion (Hangar Theatre) Select TV work: Guiding Light (CBS), Inside The Actors Studio: Jim Carrey (Bravo). ABOUT ALIANA DE LA GUARDIA Soprano Aliana de la Guardia has garnered acclaim for her dazzling flights of virtuosity (Gramophone) in vocally fearless performances that are fizzing with theatrical commitment (The Boston Globe). A voracious interpreter of repertoire old and new, this Cuban-American artist enjoys a multifaceted career as a vocalist, actor, educator, and entrepreneur in New England and beyond. As a co-founder of the intrepid Boston-based Guerilla Opera, she has produced many newly commissioned operas with lead roles tailor-made for her ferocious stage presence. Recent operas include the premiere of Hannah Lash s Beowulf, in which she enraptured audiences with her beautiful fragility and strength, (I Care If You Listen) and the newly released Loose, Wet, Perforated by Nicholas Vines on Navona Records, an evocative opera in which de la Guardia struts her stuff (Opera News). Other favorite new roles include the Doctor in Persona, based on the Ingmar Bergman film, by Keeril Makan and under the music direction of Evan Ziporyn with Beth Morison Projects, and the Voice in Oration by Line Tjönoi with the Center for Contemporary Opera under the music direction of Lidiya Yankovskaya. The Arts Fuse lauds de la Guardia s natural sound [as] lovely, as clear and powerful as grain alcohol. A consummate interpreter of new repertoire, she has enjoyed collaborations with many ensembles featuring today s most eminent composers including cenes from a Novel and Kafka Fragments with violinist Gabriela Diaz by György Kurtág, Aspern Suite by Salvatore Sciarrino and Nenia: the Death of Orpheus by Harrison Birtwistle conducted by Jeffery Means, and world premiere of Earth Songs by Ronald Perrera with New England Philharmonic, among others. As a solo artist, she has worked with numerous organizations including the American Lyric Theater, the Boston Conservatory New Music Festival, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Center for Contemporary Opera, Firebird Ensemble, Harvard Group for New Music, I/O Ensemble at Williams College, Ludovico Ensemble, and PARMA Festival. Sometimes performing under the guise of Dirty Paloma, a moniker for her solo endeavors, she incorporates new music and chamber music collaborations into highly curated, fearless and edgy (Boston Musical Intelligencer) concerts throughout New England. De la Guardia has also enjoyed performances of classical repertoire has been featured on television guest starring in the second season of ABC s Body of Proof. As an educator, she has been a featured artist at Harvard University, Lawrence Conservatory, Vermont College of Fine Arts, University of Memphis, and served on the performance faculty at Hubbard Hall Opera Theater for three seasons. Other guest speaking engagements include those at the National Opera Association Convention, Classical Singer Convention and guest panelist at Boston Lyric Opera s Night at the Opera. She also maintains a large private studio in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Page 5 of 6

6 ABOUT GUERILLA OPERA Guerilla Opera is a Boston-based experimental opera company now in its 12 th season. Its mission is to commission new chamber operas written specifically for their ensemble of artists, and to perform in intimate theatrical settings without the use of a formal music director. Guerilla Opera is committed to collaborating with composers, stage directors and designers whose work promotes a progressive musical and theatrical aesthetic as well as working with performers specializing in contemporary music. All of this is in an effort to develop a new and significant repertoire of contemporary chamber opera. Visit our website at guerillaopera.org for more information. Contact Clive Grainger, executive director at clivegrainger@guerillaopera.org or at (866) Ext. 2. Page 6 of 6

Concert takes place at USC Thornton School of Music, Alfred Newman Recital Hall, Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

Concert takes place at USC Thornton School of Music, Alfred Newman Recital Hall, Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contacts: Michael Dowlan dowlan@thornton.usc.edu (213) 740-3233 LEGENDARY VIOLINIST ROBERT MANN TO PERFORM WITH HIS QUARTET TO CELEBRATE THE INSTALLATION OF GLENN DICTEROW IN