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Pepito pre-release online watch party!
April 3, 2020 @ 9:00 pm EDT
Pepito the opera lands on May 1! But they are giving early and limited access to the video on April 3 and will be opening up pre-orders for the album.
On Friday, April 3, 2020 at 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT, join us (composer Nicolas Lell Benavides, librettist Marella Martin Koch), and the complete original cast for the online premiere of Pepito, a new comic opera.
This Friday, for the first time, viewers will have the opportunity to stream an exclusive behind-the-scenes recording.
Pepito is a story of love, family, and identity set in an animal shelter. Sparks fly when Pepito, a forgotten shelter dog with a big heart, meets Camila and David, a young couple searching for the perfect addition to their family. A shared fluency in Spanish draws Pepito and Camila closer, but David and Angie, the harried shelter manager, question whether or not they are ready for the changes Pepito will bring.
Nick and Marell can’t wait to share this work with you!
Pepito, a lonely shelter dog, misses his old family and his old life. Camila and David, young married professionals, are searching for the perfect dog. As the cracks in Camila and David’s marriage deepen, Camila and Pepito form an unshakeable bond.
music by Nicolas Lell Benavides
www.nickbenavides.com
libretto by Marella Martin Koch
www.marellamartinkoch.com
Commissioned by the Washington National Opera at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and first produced at the Kennedy Center during the 2018/19 season.
Singers (in order of appearance):
Samuel J. Weiser, bass
Joshua Blue, tenor
Alexandra Nowakowski, soprano
Alexandra Christoforakis, mezzo-soprano
Ensemble:
Emma McCartney, flute/piccolo
Holly Hu, oboe
Max Opferkuch, clarinet/bass clarinet
Lieza Hansen, bassoon
Matthew Lee Otto, horn
Cameron Wilkins, trumpet
Aidan Ritchie, trombone
Mary LaBlanc, percussion
You Zhao, piano
Kate Outterbridge, violin
Nicholas Bentz, violin
Erica Zappia, viola
Javier Iglesias-Martín, cello
Rebecca Lawrence, double bass
Nicolas Lell Benavides, conductor
Audio
Zach Miley Productions
www.zachmiley.com
Video
Maggie Beidelman
www.maggiebe.com
Additional Footage
Tyler Eschendal
Recorded in the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld Symphonic Hall,
University of Southern California
Principal Donors
Alan Savada & Will Stevenson
Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce
Jake Heggie
Foundation Support
Presser Foundation Graduate Music Award
Album art credit
Scott Suchman, photographer
Andrea Dorf McGray, director
A.J. Guban, lighting designer
Martha Timlin, costume designer