We are thrilled to be a featured event in the latest issue of the Buffalo Spree! Get your copy today and read Phil Nyhuis’s beautiful write-up about the show, Sotto Voce, and Jessie Downs’ work more generally.

We are now less than a month away from the start of production for The Second Sight and our cast and production team are hard at work preparing for the show. This week’s scene preview is of our premiere Freyaria, Claudia Brown, working on her opening arietta, “My Life is Simple.” We hope you enjoy a sneak-peak of this sprightly number, recorded in our performance space, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo!

We are excited to announce a lecture-recital hosted by OperaBuffs “Inside Opera” Lecture Series, featuring composer-performer Jessie Downs, with performances from and discussions about the connections between her new opera and the operatic canon.

The lecture-recital will be held on June 12 from 10:30a.m. to 12p.m. at Tacoma Performing Arts Center, 351 Tacoma Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14216 and is FREE of charge. There is free parking in the venue lot. The event is mobility-challenged accessible and open to the public. All are welcome.

Dr. Downs will be joined by pianist Jonathon Vogtle and members of the cast of The Second Sight – Claudia Brown (Freyaria) and Beth White (Water Spirit). The trio will perform works by Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, and Downs. The composer will talk about themes such as “reclaiming the mad scene,” “innocence and womanhood,” and “loss and faith” that run through both traditional opera and her new work.

Tickets for the opera premiere will be available for purchase, and donations to the production will be very gratefully accepted. We hope to see you there!

This week we introduce soprano Claudia Brown, who will be premiering the role of Freyaria, the empath mother, in The Second Sight this June. Claudia became Clinical Assistant Professor of Voice and Choral Music at UB 4 years ago and has done amazing things with the program. Having done her Masters of Music in Choral Studies at Cambridge in the UK, she has a masterful grasp of how to both perform and teach in the choral discipline. She is also a trained and experienced performer of opera and oratorio, with a clear, lithe, and shimmering sound. Both her sound and her outgoing and friendly demeanor make her a perfect fit for bringing to life the caring and optimistic Freyaria, whose playful coloratura brightens the world of the opera. Claudia sings with a number of Buffalo choirs. In this recent recording made by the BPO and Westminster Presbyterian of Handel’s Messiah, you can watch Claudia performing “If God Be For Us, Who Can Be Against Us”. Check it out, and remember to get your tickets to see Claudia – along with Ola Rafalo, Jessie Downs, and the Spirits of Sotto Voce – this June!

You can also read more about Claudia on our MEMBERS page.

Previously in our Second Sight premiere count-down, you’ve met composer-performer Jessie Downs (Sashatya) and mezzo-soprano Ola Rafalo (Diskana). This week we are proud to introduce other members of our cast – Beth White (Water Spirit), Julia Anne Cordani (Bird Spirit), and Suzanne Fatta (Frog Spirit). The Spirit music is a rich part of the opera, and we are so lucky to have 6 very unique vocalists bringing this complex music to life. Watch this video to hear and see these lovely ladies at work, visit our MEMBERS page to learn more about their backgrounds, and remember to get your tickets to hear them all live in June!

This week, the premiere cast of The Second Sight is thrilled to unveil a virtually produced recording of Act III Scene 1a “The Mourners’ Chorus.” Other than our June in Buffalo workshop in 2019, this is the only existing recording of a scene from the opera incorporating the sinfonietta orchestration with the vocalists.

We can’t wait to share more like this – with fabulous staging to boot – come June! Get your tickets today! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-second-sight-a-new-opera-live-premiere-tickets-139116183249?fbclid=IwAR1imxI54J2O2iUAaGl_iWkHo3T40VubKKHn19ecytZ1X6eTN9Yo0cZ4gIw

The Premiere Cast of “The Second Sight” has put together a Classic(al) Mixtape – with recordings of a variety of classical arias and art songs – for “Sponsors” who donate $250 or more. As all give-backs are cumulative, at this donation level, you will also receive a Second Sight art print, an individualized page of the opera score, and of course a personalized thank you note recognizing your donation’s tax-deductible status. To donate: Go to https://www.asiwny.org/donate/ , then scroll down to choose “Donate to a Fiscal Sponsor Client” and write “for Sotto Voce” in the NOTES section!

This week, Sotto Voce is excited to share a clip of The Second Sight’s premiere prima donna Ola Rafalo working on her character Diskana’s opening aria, “There are shadows here.” Stay tuned for more clips from our hard-working cast, and remember to reserve your tickets so that you can experience how this all comes together in June!

The Second Sight still needs your help! In addition to being tax-deductible, donations to the opera are eligible for “give-backs” when a gift meets one of our sponsorship levels.

Today’s featured give-back is a pen plotted art poster, made by Sotto Voce’s Managing Director, Alex Huddleston. There are a few unique designs based on The Second Sight’s themes and aesthetic. Get yours today when you contribute $100 or more.

To donate online, visit ASI’s “Donate” page, scroll down and choose “Donate to a Fiscal Sponsor Client,” then write “for Sotto Voce” in the notes section. https://www.asiwny.org/donate/ You can also mail a check to ASI at the address below, and put “for Sotto Voce” on the Memo line.

ASI

2495 Main St, Suite 422

Buffalo, NY  14214

Sotto Voce is thrilled to introduce mezzo-soprano Ola Rafalo to the Buffalo stage as the titular “Second Seer” in the June 2021 premiere of The Second Sight. Ms. Rafalo is the ideal Diskana in every way – she wields a voice of great power and expressivity, has a reverence both for tradition and innovation, and is herself a very spiritual woman in-tune with herself and the universe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15YqkwnNrkY&ab_channel=OlaRafalo

Ola’s voice is like a force of nature. When you listen to her recordings, you will no doubt be drawn in by the profound depth of her lower register that is matched in power by a brilliant upper range. You may also be entranced by the expressivity of her physical embodiment of the characters she portrays, coupled with the fluidity and intention with which she shapes a line. However, hearing recordings of Ola can not compare to hearing her live. Her voice is not just a sound, it is a sensation, a wave of vibrations that nearly knocks the wind out of you. She opens her mouth and suddenly the air is alive, and you are swimming in sound. If you have never experienced something like this, you will not want to miss your chance in Buffalo this June.

The repertoire Ms. Rafalo excels in is dramatic and sumptuous, and she always highlights a work’s unique colors. When she sings Verdi’s Ulrica, for example, the fortune-teller’s haunting melodies undulate with a primal force. However, her sound easily morphs into the sensuous entreaties of Saint-Saens’s Biblical heroine Dalila, with liquid tones that pool gently and then overflow with longing. While thus far in her career Ms. Rafalo is perhaps best known for her fierce and stunning portrayal of Carmen, she likewise champions lesser known works of the canon, including a great deal of Slavic repertoire to which she feels deeply connected through her Polish heritage.

Ms. Rafalo is truly a great technician as in the Golden Age of singing, producing a dramatic mezzo sound that is rarely heard in the modern era. She and The Second Sight’s composer Jessie Downs connected through their tutelage under master pedagogue Franco Bertacci and the profound experiences this very traditional teaching has had on them both. Ms. Rafalo approaches her singing with a steadfast reverence for tradition, and it shows; critics have recognized her as an inheritor of the great masters, someone who could become “the next Cossotto,” and juries have awarded her such accolades as the Maria Callas prize. At the same time, Ola is also very much a modern artist who pushes herself to go ever deeper in her understanding and interpretation of the music she sings. From her acting to her make-up artistry, her flute playing to her linguistic fluency, Ola brings so many diverse skills into her holistic practice of being an opera singer.