Composer

500 years ago, a boy was born in the Italian city of Palestrina. He grew up as a choirboy, and over time he became one of the most important and influential composers of the Renaissance, who was associated with, among other things, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Palestrina 500 years - in the footsteps of the master

Trinity Church Copenhagen

Odder Parish Church

Assistens Cemetery

Based on the Ernest Hemingway 1952 novella, this innovative adaptation of The Old Man and the Sea is the result of a collaboration between illustrious composer Paola Prestini, librettist Royce Vavrek, and conductor and stage director Karmina Šilec. Breathtakingly staged with eight pools of water enhanced with dynamic lighting, costumes, and sound, the performance combines the Hemingway text with original portraits of everyday life to create a look at aging, legacy, and our relationship to the ocean.

Onstage you’ll hear music from longtime collaborators and muses of Prestini’s including Jeffrey Zeigler as the featured cellist, as well as percussionists and a 16-person chorus featuring students from Ohio State’s School of Music. The cast brings to life the book’s pivotal characters: Santiago, Manolin, and the wife, who’s rewritten as La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, a goddess in the Afro-Caribbean faith Santería found floating off the coast of Cuba in 1628. Themes of baseball, ecology, religion, and economy paint a conflict between progress, tradition, passion, and exploitation, ultimately shedding contemporary perspectives on this timeless tale.

The Old Man And The Sea

Mershon Auditorium

Wexner Center for the Arts

Sensorium Ex is an ambitious new opera by librettist Brenda Shaughnessy and acclaimed composer Paola Prestini, co-directed by Jerron Herman and Jay Scheib, that synthesizes artificial intelligence, disability, and the arts in a groundbreaking and innovative artistic work.

Sensorium Ex

Alliance of Resident Theatres

Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea is an opera by Paola Prestini, Royce Vavrek and Karmina Šilec that presents a dual track of storytelling by combining the Hemingway text with original portraits of quotidian life to create a look at aging, legacy, and our relationship to oceans. The work includes longtime collaborators/muses of Prestini’s including Jeffrey Zeigler as the featured cellist. The cast includes a choir, and brings to life the seminal characters: Santiago, Manolin, and the wife, recast as La Virgen del Cobre, a goddess in Santería, the Afro-Caribbean faith, who was found floating on a wooden board off the coast of eastern Cuba in 1628. Themes of baseball, ecology, religion, and economy paint a conflict between progress and tradition, craft passion and exploitation, ultimately shedding contemporary perspectives on this timeless tale.

EPSG:4326

The Old Man and the Sea

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Composer Paola Prestini (BM ’95, Composition) and librettist Royce Vavrek’s The Old Man and the Sea opera receives its premiere November 4 at Arizona State University; it was commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and ASU Gammage.

Alumni Event: Paola Prestini

ASU Gammage

In this profound program, pianist Awadagin Pratt performs two concertos written especially for him, both inspired by T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. The evening culminates in Mozart’s Requiem, a choral masterpiece that traverses the depths of human existence. From the haunting “Introit” to the fiery “Dies Irae” and the ethereal “Lacrimosa,” Requiem captures the dance of life and death, the tension between stillness and motion, and the journey from mortality to transcendence.

Composer

Paola Prestini

Events

Upcoming events

1 - 2 May, 2026

At The Still Point · Dayton Performing Arts

Past events

19 - 21 Nov, 2025

Palestrina 500 years - in the footsteps of the master · DR Vocal Ensemble

10 - 12 Oct, 2025

The Old Man And The Sea · Opera Columbus

About

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