Virtual Projects

Cosi fan tutte

This virtual, completely remote, live production was produced through Opera NexGen as their inaugural production and opened in March 2021. The singers, tech team, and creative team all worked from their own homes to create accessible performances tailored to a modern audience and opportunities for young artists during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For additional video excerpts from the production, send a message.

Opera Without Walls

Instead of doing an in-person program, Pittsburgh Festival Opera created an online Young Artists Program for their summer 2020 festival. As an associate director, Lenz created concepts, stagings, and edit plans for three scenes:

  • Marguerite and Faust’s garden duet from Faust set as a silent film

  • Count Almaviva, Figaro, and Rosina’s Barber of Seville Act II trio set as a 1950s episode of Doctor Who

  • Anna and Giovanna’s duet from Anna Bolena set as an episode of The Handmaid’s Tale

“Several of the scenes stood out, as much for the singing as the ingenuity of the concept, starting with the Love Duet from Gounod’s Faust with Lindsey Chinn and [Myles Pinder,] which harkened back to the silent-movie days of Hollywood. Donizetti’s Anna Bolena was updated into The Tudor Wive’s Tale: a regal Maureen Brabec knocked back whiskey while her rival, Taylor-Alexis Dupont as Giovanna Seymour, cowered in the white coif and red dress of a Handmaid from Margaret Atwood’s novel.”

- Rick Perdian, Seen and Heard International

Arias

These videos feature pieces completed during COVID-19 in collaboration with singers to create staged arias for their promotional and competition use.

“That Wild Fire” from Blake by H. Leslie Adams. Featuring Jaime Sharp.

“Fuor del mar” from Idomeneo by Mozart. Featuring Mark Istratie.