Welcome! Here is some additional info about tonight’s show!
PROGRAM
DIES IRAE, DESIRÉE follows the journey of “The Kinship”, a UFO cult led by Desirée, a charismatic YouTube streamer who claims to communicate with a cosmic emissary from the distant solar system of Elyrha. As the group anticipates their promised ascension to the planets of Elyrha, the chamber opera follows their journey through hope, faith, disillusionment, and public scorn, offering both a critique of the growing mainstream influence of conspiratorial thinking and a tragic-comic portrait of people seeking meaning in increasingly absurd ways.
75 minutes without intermission
CREATIVE TEAM
Maria Finkelmeier | Composer / Co-Director / Conductor / Electronics
Brady Evan Walker | Librettist / Co-Director
Supreetha Krishnan | Interactive Visual Designer / Animator
CAST & 3A ENSEMBLE
Sarah Beaty | Desirée
Quinton Gardner | Jack Noel
Madeleine Tran | Cassie / Sunny St. Cloud
Sarah Tiedemann | Astrid / flute
William Pyle | Tadd / saxophone
Valdine Ritchie Mishkin | cello
Chris Whyte | percussion
CREW
Nathan Mutchler | Audio Engineer
Mandana Khoshnevisan | Lightning Design(er)
Signe Larsen | Props & Wardrobe
Ephriam Harnsberger | Operations Manager (for the Vault)
Scott Ponik | Libretto Typesetting & Design
Heliorana Films | Videography
3A STAFF
Evan Lewis | Executive Director
Sarah Tiedemann | Artistic Director
Will Pyle | Communications Director
Lori Trephibio | Production Manager
Maluhia Ose | Production Manager
3A BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Michael Reed, Interim Chair
Ted Clifford, Treasurer
Lars Campbell
Valdine Mishkin
Ross Seligman
Elaine Vote
Mike Rego
Evan Lewis, ex-officio
Sarah Tiedemann, ex-officio
BEHIND THE SCENES
Nathan Mutchler | Audio Engineer
Madeline Sorenson | graphic design
Terrellyn Faye Moffett | concert photography
BAG&BAGGAGE PRODUCTIONS + THE VAULT THEATER
Bag&Baggage Productions is Hillsboro’s only professional theater company. For more than 20 years, B&B has been bringing the people of Hillsboro together through live storytelling & community-building events, anchoring the Cultural Arts District in Historic Downtown Hillsboro. Bag&Baggage is proud to be collaborating with Third Angle on this world premiere piece. And, we hope you will join Bag&Baggage for our 26/27 Season Announcement Event on April 12th. To buy tickets, to become a sustaining supporter, or to find out more, please visit www.bagnbaggage.org.
Our home, The Vault Theater, is a historic building and multi-purpose event space located in Hillsboro, Oregon. Since its opening in 2017, The Vault has hosted many theatrical productions, film screenings, galas, fundraising events, lectures, and more. If you are interested in renting The Vault Theater for your next show or event, please reach out to info@bagnbaggage.org for more information.
BAG&BAGGAGE STAFF
Ephriam Harnsberger | Director of Operations
Mandana Khoshnevisan | Production Manager
Signe Larsen | Patron Relations Manager
Jen Waters | Development Manager
Grayson Ashford | Education Associate
Maria Finkelmeier | guest creative director
Named a “one-woman dynamo” by the Boston Globe, Maria is a percussionist, composer, new media artist, and professor. Whether it’s scoring conceptual art films or serving as director, composer, and performer in multi-sensory performances and public art installations, her work continually transcends both genre and medium.
Empowered by sonic exploration and obsessed with making noise, she transformed Fenway Park into a percussive playground and turned the Roebling bridge into a sound and light instrument. She illuminated an outdoor amphitheater as pandemic relief, used AI to investigate gender bias, flipped a bus into a mobile electronic bucket drumming program, and performed at iconic global venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Smithsonian, and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She's played with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Silkroad Ensemble, and Baltic Sea Philharmonic while her cutting-edge work has been featured in the Boston Globe, National Parks Magazine, Boston Magazine, Vulture, SunSentinel, I Care if you Listen and on WGBH, WBUR, and CBS.
Merging meticulous performance practice and production knowledge with intentions that are narrative driven and socially responsive, Maria has been commissioned by national organizations, municipalities, and festivals including the National Parks Service, Esplanade Association, Harvard Ed Portal, IGNITE Broward, TEDx Cambridge, BLINK Cincinnati, London’s i = u festival, ILLUMINUS, and the Boston Center for the Arts. Her care and dedication to her practice has been supported and acknowledged by the Boston Foundation, CODAWorx, Boston Design Week, New England Foundation for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Brother Thomas Fellowship, among others.
An experienced entrepreneur, Maria has founded and directed numerous ventures, including her active experimental studio MF Dynamics, along with Kadence Arts, Make Music Boston, Quartet Kalos, Masary Studios, and Ensemble Evolution. Dedicated to shaping the next generation of creators and arts leaders, she is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music specializing in Creative Entrepreneurship. Prior to rooting in New England, Maria spent three years in Northern Sweden at the Piteå Institution for Music and Media as an artist-in-residence. Maria received a Bachelor of Music degree from The Ohio State University and a Master of Music degree from Eastman School of Music. Maria is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Brady Evan Walker | guest artist
Brady Evan Walker is a Portland-based, Cajun-bred writer hailing from south of where you think Louisiana ends. His short films have screened at festivals including the Lighthouse Film Festival, Sedona, Taos, Queens World and more, and his film “Bygones” won Best Comedy at the Key West Film Festival. Most recently, he wrote “Lay Lefty Down”—a breast cancer comedy directed by Traven Rice now entering the festival circuit. “Dies Irae, Desirée” marks his debut as a librettist, extending his work across film, literature, and performance. He is currently writing a novel and developing new digital text art projects that blur narrative and visual art.
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO SHOW DONORS
Co-Commissioner ($1,500)
Carley & Brian Kahn
The Harmonic Council ($500)
Anonymous
The Resonant Order ($200)
Ken Zell
The Attuned Assembly ($50)
Allison Tanenhaus
Anonymous
Claus Enevoldsen
Michelle Schroeder
Bruno Orsini
Cody MacMillan
The Tuning Forks ($25)
Gloria Yehilevsky
Fred Cirillo
Amanda Walker
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO SEASON SPONSORS & DONORS
Ronni Lacroute, John Montague & Linda Hutchins, Oregon Arts Commission, The Miller Foundation, Amphion Foundation, The Brookby Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Aaron Copland Fund, Explore Tualatin Valley, The Rossotti Family Foundation and the Fred W. Fields Fund of Oregon Community Foundation, City of Portland Office of Arts & Culture, MJ Murdock Charitable Trust, Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation, Jackson Foundation.
