In an attempt to re-create and re-define this blog, I'll be writing a bit about my current creative life as singer and Artistic Director of Divergence Vocal Theater, and the mayhem that ensues. I haven't posted an entry in ages! And of course, tons of cool things have transpired in the interim, including the founding of DVT (and its website) and my brand new, shiny website.
Here's the current dish on Divergence Vocal Theater's spring production, The 10th Muse:
"This past weekend was the second production from new indie performance company, Divergence Vocal Theater. The 10th Muse was a musical, theatrical, poetic meditation on love, heartbreak, and other such manipulations of Eros. Artistic director, Misha Penton, pulled from Berlioz, Gounod, and Boulanger (among others) for music. For text, she appropriated text from Sapho and also 4 poems from neoNuma poet, Jill Alexander Essbaum. Throw in some modern dance choreography by Toni Leago Valle, and you begin to get an idea of how fully packed a one-hour performance from DVT can be...So I can't really do a review of what I saw this past Saturday night. What I want to do instead is talk a bit about one artist's evolution into a force for re-imaging opera for the 21st Century...performance art as much as performing art. It's juxtaposition of ancient and modern art, it's a collection of thoughts on a theme, it is a collection of impressions intended to evoke feelings. An evening with DVT, then, is a feast for the eyes and ears, with video projection, dancers, and highly trained voices and musicians. Mixing in spoken word fragments and poetry ups the intellectual involvement. It seems unlikely that someone would leave a performance without having seen or heard something that stimulated them on some level. If this interdisciplinary approach to performance piques your interest in the least, I recommend you head over to DVT's website and subscribe to their email list. There are sure to be new and exciting things developing in the months to come and you won't want to miss out. Neil Ellis Orts. NeoNuma Arts. March 2009
"A lot of people are doing a lot of things to “save” opera these days – from staging brand-new world premieres the way Houston Grand Opera does almost every season to staging nothing but the oldest, most-proven seat-fillers like Carmen and La Boheme. This new Houston-based troupe led by singer-artistic director Misha Penton finds yet another way, mixing the musical form known as opera with modern dance, poetry and just about anything else that strikes their fancy". - John De Mers, ArtsHouston
"Misha Penton...has created something utterly new on the Houston music and arts scene: fearless, authentic, flawless fusion of old and new opera, dance, instrumental music, technology/multimedia, and literature." - MaryBeth Smith. SomaQuest. March 2009
"And- what a great show. You've created another powerful creative meditation- with music, voice, and dance and words. Really awesome. The poetry was blindingly beautiful...Thank you for being courageous enough to create these special experiences." -- Scott Sawyer. Praxis Collective
