OFF-BRAND OPERA PRESENTS A PUBLIC INDUSTRY READING OF
JAKE LANDAU AND ANDREA DELGIUDICE’S NEW COMPANION TO SUOR ANGELICA

PIETÀ

SEPTEMBER 10 AT 7PM
OPERA AMERICA

Off-Brand Opera opens its 2023-24 season with a reading of Jake Landau and Andrea DelGiudice’s Pietà, a new one-act companion opera. Written in English and designed to pair with Puccini's Suor Angelica, Pietà casts in fresh, harsh light Puccini's primary antagonist, "La Zia Principessa.” The work combines director Andrea DelGiudice's signature reclamation and illumination of female operatic characters with composer/librettist Jake Landau's innovative play on the expressive languages of both opera and musical theater.

When the world premiere of Pietà was delayed in 2020, the creative team collaborated with filmmaker Jacob Maximillian Baron to debut the piece in an innovative documentary film format, which won highest laurels from The People's Film Festival, RAGFF New York City, and more. In 2021, Pietà’s live premiere took place in Italy at the Narnia Festival; now, in 2023, the American premiere will be produced by Oklahoma City University's prestigious opera and musical theater program. In preparation for this production, Off-Brand Opera is thrilled to present the music of Pietà for the first time in NYC this September in a public industry reading.

OPERA AMERICA
Mark Scorca Hall
330 7th Ave, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10001

Suggested Donation $20

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ABOUT THE OPERA

Against the dark, sinful city of 18th-century Venice, the Ospedale della Pietà (a real historical institution) glows with hope, humor, and music. The Pietà is an orphanage that takes girls off the street and trains them to sing and play instruments, forming one of Europe’s most elite orchestras of the day. Daughters of the Pietà (figlie) always perform from behind an impenetrable lattice, hidden from their audiences for propriety’s sake. Though they are cared for there, the figlie are kept under strict lock and key.

Outside the walls, the institution’s wealthy padroni, Ugo and Editta, have raised teenage Giorgio as their adopted grandson. When Giorgio falls in love with a figlia named Genovieffa and takes her home to meet his grandparents, long-repressed family secrets rush to the surface. Editta, revealed to be a former figlia who will eventually become Suor Angelica’s La Zia Principessa, sees in Genovieffa a chance to fight her way out from years of shame over what she once did to her young niece Angelica—Giorgio’s mother. But will Editta be able to face down the truth of her trauma and have mercy on herself even as the past begins to repeat?

CONTENT NOTICE
Pietà discusses multiple instances of sexual assault, including one (in blackout) during the events of the opera.

PREVIEW PIETÀ!

CREATIVE TEAM

Music
Jake Landau

Libretto
Jake Landau and Andrea DelGiudice

Directed and conceived by
Andrea DelGiudice

Original production videography
Jacob Maximilian Baron

CAST

Editta
Genovieffa Lyrica
Giorgio
Fia
Odele Violista
Ugo
La Direttrice
Chiara Lyrica
Francesca Flautista
Dulce Arpista
Rosanella Violinista

Devony Smith
Claire Leyden
Jordan Pitts
Michele Pauker
Alexia DelGiudice
Jason Detwiler
Veronica Shea
Erin Kennedy
Nicole Goldstein
Kayla Faccilongo
Christine Duncan