Vocalist

**Event Description:**

**Title:** Magdalene - A Chamber Opera in Thirteen Movements

**Presented by:** Beth Morrison Projects, Danielle Birrittella, Zoe Aja Moore, and Marie Howe at REDCAT

**Dates:** June 4-5, 7-8

**Time:** 8 PM (TUE-WED, FRI-SAT)

**Duration:** Approx. 75 minutes, no intermission

**Location:** REDCAT, USA

**Ticket Price:** $50

**Genres:** Music, Theater

**Season:** Winter/Spring 2024

**About the Event:**

"Magdalene" is a transformative chamber opera that invites audiences into the profound interior world of Mary Magdalene, exploring themes of desire, transformation, and the sacred versus the sexual. This unique opera, set to Marie Howe’s evocative "Magdalene" poems, is a collaborative masterpiece scored by fourteen women composers: Leila Adu, Ruby Kato Attwood, Danielle Birrittella, Sheena Birrittella, Christina Courtin, Gabrielle Herbst, Molly Joyce, Emma O’Halloran, Tanner Porter, Ellen Reid, Kamala Sankaram, Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir, Annika Socolofsky, and Gyða Valtýsdóttir. Through a series of vivid scenes—from wandering through a hotel to lighting birthday candles and making love in the ocean—Magdalene seeks transcendence in the mundane, striving to become the subject of her own story.

This West Coast Premiere is a wild meditation on transformation and desire, enlarging the figure of Mary Magdalene to cross time and space, appearing as a woman alive now, who navigates the unyielding split between the sacred and the sexual.

**Special Features:**

- **Post-Show Talks:** Engage with the cast and creative team on June 5, 7, and 8, offering deeper insights into the production.
- **Content Advisory:** Please note that "Magdalene" contains nudity and mature content, catering to an adult audience.

**About the Artists:**

"Magdalene" is produced and co-presented by Beth Morrison Projects, a leading force in the creation and production of new opera-theatre and music theatre. The opera is commissioned and produced by PROTOTYPE Festival, a partnership between Beth Morrison Projects and HERE, and premiered at the PROTOTYPE Festival 2020. The production has received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Fund and support from the New York State Council on the Arts.

**Join Us:**

Don't miss this breathtaking opera that merges the contemporary with the timeless, offering a powerful narrative through the collective voice of an all-female composer team. Buy your tickets now for an unforgettable experience of "Magdalene" at REDCAT this Winter/Spring 2024 season.

EPSG:4326

Beth Morrison Projects, Danielle Birrittella, Zoe Aja Moore, and Marie Howe

Walt Disney Concert Hall

The Knights are a musically omnivorous chamber ensemble, a self-described “fellowship of adventurous musicians dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience.” In this program of Ravel, Weill and Brecht, Bob Dylan, Chico Buarque, and Du Yun, the orchestra—conducted by Eric Jacobsen—welcomes pipa virtuoso Wu Man, “one of the rare musicians who has changed the history of the instrument she plays” (The Boston Globe); and The Knights’ own multifaceted violinist and singer-songwriter Christina Courtin. To close the evening, special guest Magos Herrera—a versatile interpreter of jazz and Latin American music—joins the group for a new arrangement of Buarque’s powerful, Weill/Brecht–inspired “Geni e o Zepelim.” As part of Carnegie Hall’s Fall of the Weimar Republic festival, this program looks to the past and present through multiple layers of history and culture, in true “Knightsian” style.

The Knights

Carnegie Hall

Continuing a long-standing relationship with pipa legend Wu Man, this program will feature the world premiere performance of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun’s new work for pipa and orchestra and explore themes of cultural memory, transformation of old into new, and a sense of theatricality within both instrumental and vocal music.

The Knights with Wu Man at Carnegie Hall

The Knights is a self-described “fellowship of adventurous musicians” known for transforming the orchestral concert experience. In this concert, led by Artistic Director and violinist Colin Jacobsen, they perform a time-tested masterpiece—Dvořák’s ever-popular Serenade for Strings—alongside the New York City premiere of Reena Esmail’s The History of Red, a stirring work for chamber orchestra and soprano, inspired in part by Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. The program also highlights the extraordinary compositional talents of The Knights’ own members, with a world premiere by violinist and vocalist Christina Courtin and a piece written collaboratively by Ms. Courtin with flutist and vocalist Alex Sopp.

The Knights at Carnegie Hall

The Knights is a self-described “fellowship of adventurous musicians” known for transforming the orchestral concert experience. In this program led by Artistic Director and violinist Colin Jacobsen, the ensemble performs a time-tested masterpiece—Dvořák’s ever-popular Serenade for Strings—alongside the New York premiere of Reena Esmail’s The History of Red, a stirring work for chamber orchestra and soprano partly inspired by Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. The program also highlights the extraordinary compositional talents of The Knights’ own members, with a world premiere by violinist and vocalist Christina Courtin, and a piece written collaboratively by Courtin with flutist and vocalist Alex Sopp.

Christina Courtin

Vocalist

Events

Upcoming events

May 15, 2025

The Knights at Carnegie Hall · The Knights

May 15, 2025

The Knights · Carnegie Hall

Past events

4 - 8 Jun, 2024

Beth Morrison Projects, Danielle Birrittella, Zoe Aja Moore, and Marie Howe · Redcat - Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater

Feb 29, 2024

The Knights · Carnegie Hall

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