Our opera Howards End, America premiered at Z Space in San Francisco in February, 2019 with a stellar cast accompanied by a chamber orchestra–Earplay Ensemble and guests–under Earplay’s conductor Mary Chun. Philip Lowery directed, Jeremy Knight designed the stunning projections. Cast included Nikki Einfeld as Margaret Schlegel, Sara Duchovnay as Helen Schlegel, Philip Skinner as Henry Wilcox, Michael Dailey as Leonard Bast, Candace Johnson as Jacky Bast, Erin Neff as Ruth Wilcox, and Daniel Cilli as Cha
The premiere was hailed by Lois Silverstein in Operawire as “Elegant, thoughtful and persuasive . . . each aspect of the story plumbed its dramatic depth. Action and character moved the whole together . . . Shearer’s score had everything. Sometimes it seemed like a tap dance, counterpointing the eloquent lyrics Stevens created. Intimate and powerful . . . with never a false note. We need more opera at this level that is provocative as well as satisfying.” And James Ambroff-Tahan described it in the San Fr
We are pleased and proud that the premiere of Middlemarch in Spring was listed among the notable classical music events world-wide by Encyclopedia Brittanica in its Year-End Review, and was named among the TOP TEN OPERATIC EVENTS of 2015 by Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle. This adds new honors to the very positive reviews of Spring 2015: