Isola

Composed by Alyssa Weinberg
Libretto by J. Mae Barizo
Directed by Ashley Tata

Featuring

Ariadne Greif, soprano
Miho Saegusa, violin
Jennifer Liu, violin
Gabriel Cabezas, cello

ISOLA is a prismatic meditation on time, mental health, and isolation, a collaborative project undertaken by OPERA AMERICA grantees Alyssa Weinberg and J. Mae Barizo. The title is taken from the word ISOLA, at turns meaning isolation, an island, or the archipelago in the Pacific Ocean where Barizo’s parents emigrated from the year before her birth.

Written by hand by Barizo in the Appalachians in 2020, the text hinges on the idea of distorted perception, both internal and external, viewed through the lens of isolation. In the summer of 2020, cut off from collaboration in the previously understood sense of the word, Weinberg’s
process of composing ISOLA included recording her own voice and manipulating samples of her own music. The libretto was pieced together collaboratively, a synaesthetic practice of giving voice and colors to various emotional realms largely associated with mental health and instability. Deep blue for the color of dreams; pink noise for anxiety and the chaotic inner voices that cannot be silenced; toxic green of a depressive fog; and finally, orange light, a shining moment of clarity and resilience.