Two Sarasota arts groups team up to present an opera for our times

If you go to see an opera in Sarasota, chances are you’re not going to spot the composer in the orchestra pit or in the audience. The Sarasota Opera has made its name producing the operas of Guiseppe Verdi and other composers who lived during the last millennium. But Sarasota opera aficionados will get a chance to see a modern opera and its creators when Artist Series Concerts and ensembleNewSRQ team up to present “Music for New Bodies” on May 22 at the Sarasota Opera House.

Arts patrons will spot some familiar faces on stage for the opera. Sarasota Orchestra concertmaster Daniel Jordan will play violin alongside Samantha Bennett, a former orchestra member who co-founded ensembleNewSRQ with her husband, percussionist George Nickson, also a Sarasota Orchestra alum. Nickson will conduct “Music for New Bodies,” which made its world premiere in Houston in 2024 and was performed last year at Lincoln Center in New York City.

What’s got culture vultures worked up into a frenzy is that this production will feature the two collaborators who created “Music for New Bodies’ based on the poetry of Jorie Graham and the environmentalist Rachel Carson. That’s right: Composer Matthew Aucoin and director Peter Sellars are coming to town to stage this production.

If you know, you know. But if you don’t, Aucoin was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, an award for creative geniuses that now comes with $800,000 cash grant. He’s commissioned operas for the Metropolitan Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He teamed up with Sellars to create “Music for New Bodies” for five vocalists and an 18-piece orchestral ensemble.

Sellars, whose credits include operatic collaborations with John Adams, Tyshawn Sorey and the late Kaija Saariaho, will serve as the director of “Music for New Bodies,” which will be presented in Sarasota for one night only.

The vocal soloists are soprano Meredith Wohlgemuth, soprano Meryl Dominguez, mezzo-soprano Elana Belle, tenor Daniel McGrew and bass baritone Jonathan Woody.

Part of the reason why excitement has reached such a fevered pitch is that it’s a year of big anniversaries in Sarasota. Among them are the 100th anniversary of the Mediterranean-Revival masterpiece, the Sarasota Opera House. It’s also the 40th anniversary of Artist Series Concerts, where Jordan is director of artistic programming, and the 10th anniversary of enSRQ, shorthand for ensembleNewSRQ.

Over the years, enSRQ has made First Congregational Church its main venue for concerts of contemporary classical music, loosely defined as having been written in the last 50 years. It’s a big deal for the ensemble to take over the Opera House, something it’s done twice in its 10th anniversary season. On April 24, it presented Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians” at the majestic hall in honor of the composer’s 90th birthday year.

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Other than a chance to celebrate, cultural organizations such as Artist Series Concerts and enSRQ like anniversaries because they offer unique marketing and fundraising opportunities. 

Putting the number 10, 40 or even 100 next to a logo helps an arts group stand out in a vibrant, i.e. crowded, cultural market. So why not take a well-deserved anniversary bow with great fanfare?

For Bennett and Nickson, working with creative collaborators such as Aucoin and Sellars is a stamp of artistic approval in the rarified world of high culture. “It’s really an honor to work with artists on the contemporary scene of this magnitude,” says Bennett. Or was it Nickson? The husband and wife are wont to finish each other’s sentences.

But what makes the production of “Music for New Bodies” so exciting for Bennett and Nickson is that it’s happening in Sarasota. “These are the caliber of artists you see in New York, Paris and Salzburg,” Bennett says. Add Sarasota to that list.

Of course, the reason they are here is that Aucoin approached Bennett and Nickson, whom he knows from performance venues in the music world like Tanglewood and from intersecting paths during their musical studies at schools such as Juilliard and Harvard.

“Matt called me after the premiere of ‘Music for New Bodies’ and said, ‘I think this would resonate with you and your group. It could really go far in Sarasota.’ We took a listen and we agreed,” Nickson says.

As they sat down to plan their 10th anniversary season, Bennett and Nickson decided that it would make a perfect capstone. “It’s our most ambitious undertaking by far,” Nickson says.

Tailor-made for the Sarasota Opera House

Nickson notes that “Music for New Bodies” has been staged just a handful of times. Previous productions took place Houston, New York, Seattle, Aspen, Colorado, and Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts. Unlike a touring show, each production of the opera is “bespoke,” Bennett notes.

“It’s 70 minutes long with no intermission. Musicians have to move around so that they can be in certain lights,” says Nickson. “We’re bringing a lot of technical support in for full lighting and electronics to make this an immersive production.”

These bells and whistles require people to operate them, including a lighting designer, an audio designer and a stage producer, he says. It quickly became apparent that staging “Music for New Bodies” in the Opera House would require renting lights and equipment and trucking them in from Orlando, he says.

It goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: Such a production costs real money. Several donors who appreciate enSRQ’s role in bringing contemporary classical music to Sarasota stepped up and helped underwrite “Music for New Bodies” with anonymous donations.

Even with those donations, Bennett and Nickson began looking for a partner to help foot the bills.

That’s where Jordan and Artist Series Concerts came in. “Samantha, George and I were colleagues at Sarasota Orchestra and we’re close friends,” Jordan says. “It’s nice to come together on this project.”

Jordan says when Bennett mentioned to him that Aucoin and Sellars were going to be on the ground for “Music for New Bodies,” he went to Artist Series Concerts Executive Director Keren Shani-Lifrak and the group’s board to pitch a partnership.

Like Bennett and Nickson, Jordan has crossed paths with Aucoin and Sellars before. He worked with them as a member of the orchestra at the Santa Fe Opera, where he returns this summer.

In July 2018, Aucoin made his conducting debut in Santa Fe for John Adams’ opera “Dr. Atomic,” about Robert Oppenheimer’s moral struggles as he spearheaded the development of the atomic bomb. Sellars, the opera’s librettist, staged the Santa Fe Opera production. 

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“Dr. Atomic” had particular resonance in Santa Fe since the bomb dubbed “Little Boy” was developed just down the road in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

“Dr. Atomic” left a big impression on Jordan. His experience working with Aucoin and Sellars led him to develop a partnership plan that brings the duo to Sarasota to close out Artist Series Concerts’ 40th season. Jordan also volunteered to play violin with enSRQ for “Music for New Bodies.”

“There are a lot of opera fans in Sarasota, but this will be something different from what is normally presented at the Opera House. It will really appeal to people who care about contemporary music. It’s going to be fun,” Jordan said in a May 7 interview.

To prepare for the opera, enSRQ is “having a ton of rehearsals,” he added. “We’ll be doing six hours a day Tuesday through Friday, May 18-22. It will be a very intense process. Anytime you get to work with the composer and director is a very special experience. They will be creating the opera anew for Sarasota.”