Creative Team
Composer and Librettist
TED HEARNE
Film
BILL MORRISON
Lighting design
SCOTT BOLMAN
Featuring
ABIGAIL FISCHER, TED HEARNE, RENA MARIE, ISAIAH ROBINSON and ANTHONY TURNER
TED HEARNE
BILL MORRISON
About
Katrina Ballads is a powerful multi-media work conceived by composer Ted Hearne, with devastating and haunting film by internationally renowned filmmaker Bill Morrison. Katrina Ballads draws on blues, gospel, grunge, electronic processing, and chance music to portray the devastation of New Orleans’ losses and the uncomfortable social truths that were uncovered during the Katrina catastrophe in 2005. Through this event and the media coverage of it, we delve into a larger critical issue facing our country: the media’s hold on the collective American intelligence. By shaping and influencing our reality through its limited, biased, and telescoped “truth” of events such as Katrina, our “reality” is created by the omni-present media.
The text for Katrina Ballads is drawn entirely from primary-source material from the week following Hurricane Katrina, including the words of survivors and relief workers as well as politicians and celebrities, all experienced through national media outlets and immediately archived forever on the internet. By using primary sources for the libretto, the texts not only communicate the deeply personal imprint Katrina left on those of us who weren’t there, but also keep fresh the actual words that were spoken during that time and the visceral messages those words conveyed.
Support
Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects. World premiere at Le Poisson Rouge (NYC) in 2010 and at Foundation for Modern Music/Hobby Center for the Performing Arts (Houston) in 2010.
![The West Coast premiere of TRADE/MARY MOTORHEAD marked another successful addition to the rich legacy of collaborative efforts between Beth Morrison Projects and LA Opera (@laopera)! We're looking back at some of our favorite productions over the years to celebrate!
DOG DAYS - DOG DAYS marked the first production of the whirlwind partnership in 2015. Hailed by the New York Times as a riveting, soon-to-be “groundbreaking American classic,” the post-apocalyptic tragedy made waves at its LAO presentation and put BMP on the West Coast map.
P R I S M - P R I S M marked another milestone in our joint history. Not only did Ellen Reid’s (@ellenreidmusic) debut opera make its world premiere with LA Opera at REDCAT (@calartsredcat), but this collaborative project would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2019. It was a major development for BMP, LAO, and, of course, Ellen Reid, who “[took] her place among the host of promising young American opera composers” (The Financial Times).
ANGEL'S BONE - Another Pulitzer Prize-winning BMP production, ANGEL'S BONE, was planned as part of the 2020 season. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the presentation pivoted, becoming the first in our history to be presented digitally. The show was streamed by 20,000 people, demonstrating the strength and resilience of our bond with LAO.
TRADE/MARY MOTORHEAD - Finally, Emma O’Halloran’s (@emmamohalloran) TRADE/Mary Motorhead made its West Coast premiere last month at REDCAT. We're thrilled to celebrate another year of BMP and LAO sharing boundary-pushing, cutting-edge opera with this incredible production starring Naomi Louisa O’Connell (@naomi_louisa_oconnell), Marc Kudisch (@marckudisch), and Kyle Bielfield (@bielfield)!](https://bethmorrisonprojects.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)