By Andrew Jacob Rinehart
FAWN is excited to premiere the music for Cells of Wind at The Registry Theatre on January 29th in a collaboration with NUMUS! (you can get your tickets here!) The new chamber opera focuses on the topic of solitary confinement, drawing attention to the impacts it has on the human psyche. Cells of Wind challenges audiences on what the continued use of practices that resemble solitary confinement means for fundamental human rights. This is the first time the public is being invited to hear the opera. In preparation for this milestone in the piece’s development, we’re taking a brief look back at how the project evolved, and I will also be sharing some of my thoughts along the way.
Prior to joining this project’s team not long ago, I did not know much about how an opera came to be. Cells of Wind was first conceived about seven years ago, with the idea to create an opera exploring solitary confinement, inspired by the story of Romanian artist Lena Constante’s experience as a political prisoner. Once conceptualized, the next step in creating Cells of Wind was commissioning the score and libretto by Anna Höstman and Oana Avasilichioaei respectively. The pair spent about a year researching before writing the piece. Taking Lena’s story as a jumping-off point, the work evolved to explore the Canadian context of solitary confinement.
A brief aside:
It is worth noting that technically solitary confinement is not practiced in Canada anymore, at least not on paper. Instead, the use of “structured intervention units” (SIUs) is practiced, which does not quite meet the United Nations definition of solitary confinement, but colloquially speaking, it does, and practically speaking, the impact on those subjected to the practice is horrific. Further, there are reports that rules surrounding the use of SIUs are not being adhered to. FAWN aims to shine light on this practice in Canada, and challenge a culture of Canadian exceptionalism when it comes to issues of criminal justice. You can read Dr. Jane Sprott and Dr. Anthony Doob’s 2021 report “Solitary Confinement, Torture, and Canada’s Structured Intervention Units here to learn more.
After the score and libretto were written, they were workshopped over five days in July of 2022. For the workshop phase, FAWN had members of the creative team from every department in the same space and working side-by-side. Those present, notably, included criminologists who consulted with the team on the realities of solitary confinement in Canada, which informed the development of the work. These consultations were highly impactful on the team and shaped the workshopping process and future of the piece. This phase of development focused on creative collaboration and experimentation to flesh out the piece and realize its graphic score. I believe FAWN is fairly unique in their approach to creating new work, valuing the input of the entire creative team. This contrasts traditional methods of opera creation processes, which treat musicians and cast as technicians to realize a singular vision of a so-called genius. Instead, FAWN offers artistic decision-making to the musicians and artists in the room, creating a unified and collective vision for the project. If you’re interested in learning more about the July 2022 workshop phase, you can watch the short documentary about the process here.
The current phase of Cells of Wind’s development is more focused on the score, including both the libretto and music, to provide a concert version of the piece. The upcoming performance will see the realization of an updated score performed by a cast of four lead vocalists, a chorus of five sopranos, and a six-person instrumental ensemble, which includes the accordion! Preceding the performance will be a talk with librettist Oana Avasilichioaei, and criminologist Dr. Julis Haag, contextualizing the themes explored throughout the work. Audiences can expect a thought-provoking and visceral experience that juxtaposes moments of reflection and confrontation regarding solitary confinement. I hope audiences leave the performance considering not just the use of solitary confinement but holistically reconsidering the role carceral systems play in our society. Are we interested in rehabilitation, or are we just out to punish? Even more so, can we imagine futures without prisons, where positive justice is served? What would that mean and how might that look? I don’t know exactly, but that is one of the great powers of art, to challenge us to imagine beyond the realities we know.
Following this concert performance, FAWN will be prepared to enter the next phase for Cells of Wind, which hopes to see it fully realized with staging, costuming, lighting, and even interactive new media. With the music finished, there is an increasingly clear idea of how the complete opera might look. However, exactly what that will be will be collectively determined through creative collaboration in a forthcoming workshop with the creative team this spring. Additionally, future audiences will be provided with educational materials to accompany the performance, providing a research-based understanding of the opera’s themes, alongside a confronting, yet artful, interpretation of the experience of incarceration and solitary confinement. I look forward to seeing the continued development of Cells of Wind, what all the creative team will bring to the opera, and how this work will shape conversations around criminal justice reform.
You can see the premiere of the music for Cells of Wind later this month at The Registry Theatre in downtown Kitchener, January 29th at 7pm. Get your tickets at: https://numus.on.ca/event/cells-of-wind/
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Written by:
Andrew Jacob Rinehart (they/he)
(guest writer)
Bio:
Andrew Jacob Rinehart is a harp player, music educator, curator, and interdisciplinary artist, working in sound, painting, installation, and experimental events. These days they are looking to their Ukrainian heritage to re-skill, remember art making practices of the past that were fundamentally in harmony with Earth, and redefine their artistic practice. Andrew’s work is about exploring, and building relationships – with tools, materials, friends, neighbours, Plants, Animals, Land and Water. Their current projects include making paint from found and foraged materials, a series of paintings that explore their relationship to Land and place as a queer settler rediscovering their Ukrainian culture, low-tech sound installation experiments, and social events using music as a medicine for social isolation. When not working on their own projects, Andrew nurtures budding creatives learning music through the harp.
Image: Cells of Wind workshop ensemble from July 2022
ALT Text: looking out from behind an ensemble into a long wooden a-frame room. In the center there is a conductor in all black. There is a view of the percussionists area closeup, which includes cymbals, pots, glasses, and several mallets. The ensemble sits in black chairs with their instruments between the percussionist and conductor.