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Acclaimed Soprano Deborah Voigt to Play The Queen of Sweden in 'Vireo' Episode 11

December 1, 2016
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Deborah Voigt. | Photo: Heidi Gutman
Deborah Voigt. | Photo: Heidi Gutman

Vireo, the groundbreaking made-for-TV opera, is now available for streaming. Watch the 12 full episodes and dive into the world of Vireo through librettos, essays and production notes. Find more bonus content on KCET.org and LinkTV.org.

We are delighted to announce that world-renowned opera star Deborah Voigt will be playing The Queen of Sweden, a role created for her, in Episode Eleven, “Circus.” This penultimate episode of "Vireo" will be filmed on January 20, 2017 (Presidential Inauguration Day) at the 16th Street Oakland Train Station in Oakland, California. Here is an excerpt from the libretto by Erik Ehn, written for The Queen of Sweden:

Awake without a moon, inside dynamite
Shrapnel misses nothing,
Spectacular light
Countries roll apart
Hysterical art: a proxy...
Dollars go again to bombs
Which is money’s best aim, get, name.
 

In addition to Deborah Voigt and "Vireo's" cast, Episode Eleven, “Circus,” will feature Magik*Magik Orchestra; San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) & Chorus School; Lance Suzuki, piccolo; Matthias Bossi, drums; and approximately 50 amateur musicians, participating via the Amateur Music Network, in the role of The Audience.
 
The final episode of "Vireo," “My Name is Vireo,” will be filmed on January 16, 2017 and will feature the Kronos Quartet with lead Rowen Sabala in a Californian redwood forest. Episode Ten is in progress, and features the "Vireo" cast plus violinist Jennifer Koh with members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus School; Kate Campbell, toy piano; and Randy Matamoros, hurdy-gurdy.
 
"Vireo" is composed by Lisa Bielawa on a libretto by Erik Ehn and directed by Charles Otte. In May 2017, KCET in Southern California and Link TV nationwide (DirecTV channel 375 and Dish Network channel 9410) will release all 12 episodes of "Vireo" at once for free, via on-demand streaming, which is a first for both. "Vireo" is the winner of the 2015 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Multimedia Award, and was recently awarded prestigious grants from the MAP Fund, The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, and The Rea Charitable Trust.
 
"Vireo" is an artist residency project of Grand Central Art Center (GCAC), an outgrowth of California State University, Fullerton. Deborah Voigt won the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Cal State Fullerton, where she was a student in the School of Music voice program.

This article was originally published on December 12, 2016

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