ABOUT US
Overview
“Ensemble Parallèle is doing more for contemporary opera than any other organization in the area, no matter the size.” —San Francisco Classical Voice
The award winning Ensemble Parallèle is a professional, nonprofit organization that develops and performs contemporary chamber opera. These operas are internationally acclaimed but rarely performed here. Ensemble Parallèle is the only organization in the Bay Area presenting fully cast and staged contemporary chamber operas exclusively.
Ensemble Parallèle commissions chamber orchestrations of contemporary grand opera, to give a sense of intimacy to its productions and to give an afterlife to contemporary works. These works provide a platform to bring together new audiences and emerging talent through workshops, seminars, readings of new works, and educational outreach programs.
Artistic director Nicole Paiement founded Ensemble Parallèle in 1994 to perform new music and to collaborate with various artists such as dancers, choreographers, and visual and multimedia artists — as the Ensemble’s name suggests, in parallel. These collaborations allowed Ensemble Parallèle to reach a wider-ranging and younger audience.
In 2007 Ensemble Parallèle began to focus exclusively on contemporary chamber opera. In February of that year, the organization presented the world premiere of Lou Harrison’s opera Young Caesar. Most recently its productions have included the California premiere of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck in the chamber orchestration by composer John Rea (2010); the San Francisco Bay Area premiere of Philip Glass’ opera Orphée (2011); and The Four Saints in Three Acts opera collaboration with SF/MOMA (2011). Currently the company is working on the world premiere of the chamber orchestration of John Harbison’s opera The Great Gatsby (February 2012).
Since it was founded, Ensemble Parallèle has presented 134 performances including 30 world premieres, released 14 recordings, and commissioned 20 new works; and has performed in North America, Australia, and Asia. It is an ensemble in residence at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Virgil Thomson/Gertrude Stein’s Opera, Four Saints in Three Acts: “Ensemble Parallèle, a San Francisco-based producer of avant-garde operas, captures much of the madness of the heavily abstract work with a playful, exquisitely sung and elegantly designed production”. —Chloe Veltman, The Bay Citizen
Philip Glass’s Opera Orphée—San Francisco Premiere: “Orphée Triumphant” “Ensemble Parallèle, a San Francisco company devoted to contemporary chamber opera, scored a full-on triumph over the weekend…ravishing and delicate, haunting and playful, somber and romantic, the production fused story, music and stagecraft into an engrossing evening of music theater. —Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle
Alban Berg’s Opera Wozzeck—California Premiere of John Rea’s Chamber: “Ensemble Parallèle’s oft-devastating, 90-minute multimedia wow of a production was whole and complete unto itself. (…) Brian Staufenbiel paid equal attention to Wozzeck’s musical and theatrical elements. Ensemble Parallèle played as if on fire. (…) Paiement‘s achievement was staggering.” —Jason Victor Serinus, San Francisco Classical Voice.
Lou Harrison’s Opera Young Caesar—World Premiere: “Spangly percussion sounds and Asian scales bejewel the score [of Lou Harrison's Young Caesar], and the performance by conductor Nicole Paiement and the Ensemble Parallèle brought out the music‘s seductive charms. —Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle
[Photos: Alban Berg’s Opera, Wozzeck: Erin Neff]
[Photos: Alban Berg’s Opera, Wozzeck: Bojan Knezevic]
[Photos: Alban Berg’s Opera, Wozzeck: Patricia Green, Kai Nau]