Squonk Opera
Encyclopedia
Squonk Opera is a group of interdisciplinary performing artists from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
. Led by artistic directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O'Hearn, Squonk Opera formed in 1992 and has created ten distinct shows and performed in over 250 venues in the United States. Squonk Opera has been touring internationally since 2003 - to Scotland, Belgium, Germany and South Korea, where they opened both the Busan International Performing Arts Festival and the World Music Theater Festival. Over 200,000 people have seen Squonk around the world, and reviews include "insane majesty" from The Scotsman, and "...surreal and poetic" from USA Today.
Squonk Opera's shows consist of music, visual art, and acting elements in an attempt to make a form of opera
accessible to all people. The group "like to think of ourselves as a wacky, provincial opera company," says Dempsey, who named the group "Squonk
" after a description of a jazz saxophonist's playing as a "squonk-fest", rather than the legendary creature
of the same name.
In 2000, Squonk Opera took their show Bigsmörgåsbørdwünderwerk onto Broadway
from its previous off-Broadway
run. Though the venture was a commercial failure, the exposure it gained them was ultimately beneficial.
In 2011, Squonk Opera performed on popular television show America's Got Talent
. They were sent directly past the Vegas round into Hollywood, and thus did not compete until the first quarterfinals. The group was eliminated, being buzzed by Sharon Osbourne
and Piers Morgan
.
Squonk Opera has received several grants
and awards for their work, including four NEA
grants, an American Theater Wing Award, and grants from the Rockefeller M.A.P. Fund, Heinz Endowments
, Richard King Mellon Foundation, Henson Foundation and The Pittsburgh Foundation.
In addition to the core performers, Squonk Opera also collaborates with a variety of artists and technicians.Several other members were previously part of the group but have since moved on to other projects.
Places "squonked as of April, 2011 include:
Albany: The Opera;
Baltimore: The Opera;
Bloomington: The Opera;
Bradford: The Opera;
Charleston: The Opera;
Charlotte: The Opera;
Chester County: The Opera;
College Park: The Opera;
Columbia: The Opera;
Houghton: The Opera;
Indiana County: The Opera;
Newark: The Opera;
Pittsburgh: The Opera;
Raritan Valley: The Opera;
Reston: The Opera;
South Orange: The Opera;
St. Louis: The Operetta;
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. Led by artistic directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O'Hearn, Squonk Opera formed in 1992 and has created ten distinct shows and performed in over 250 venues in the United States. Squonk Opera has been touring internationally since 2003 - to Scotland, Belgium, Germany and South Korea, where they opened both the Busan International Performing Arts Festival and the World Music Theater Festival. Over 200,000 people have seen Squonk around the world, and reviews include "insane majesty" from The Scotsman, and "...surreal and poetic" from USA Today.
Squonk Opera's shows consist of music, visual art, and acting elements in an attempt to make a form of opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
accessible to all people. The group "like to think of ourselves as a wacky, provincial opera company," says Dempsey, who named the group "Squonk
Squonk
The Squonk is a legendary creature reputed to live in the Hemlock forests of northern Pennsylvania. Legends of squonks probably originated in the late nineteenth century, at the height of Pennsylvania's importance in the timber industry.-In folklore:...
" after a description of a jazz saxophonist's playing as a "squonk-fest", rather than the legendary creature
Squonk
The Squonk is a legendary creature reputed to live in the Hemlock forests of northern Pennsylvania. Legends of squonks probably originated in the late nineteenth century, at the height of Pennsylvania's importance in the timber industry.-In folklore:...
of the same name.
In 2000, Squonk Opera took their show Bigsmörgåsbørdwünderwerk onto Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
from its previous off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
run. Though the venture was a commercial failure, the exposure it gained them was ultimately beneficial.
In 2011, Squonk Opera performed on popular television show America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent is an American reality television series on the NBC television network, and part of the global British Got Talent franchise. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of...
. They were sent directly past the Vegas round into Hollywood, and thus did not compete until the first quarterfinals. The group was eliminated, being buzzed by Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Osbourne
Sharon Rachel Osbourne is an English television host, author, music manager, businesswoman and promoter as well as the wife of heavy metal singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne....
and Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan
Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan , known professionally as Piers Morgan, is a British journalist and television presenter. He is editorial director of First News, a national newspaper for children....
.
Squonk Opera has received several grants
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
and awards for their work, including four NEA
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
grants, an American Theater Wing Award, and grants from the Rockefeller M.A.P. Fund, Heinz Endowments
Heinz Endowments
The Heinz Endowments are among the largest philanthropic organizations in the United States.Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Heinz Endowments consist of two private foundations, the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment, and its monies originate from the Heinz family,...
, Richard King Mellon Foundation, Henson Foundation and The Pittsburgh Foundation.
Current members
- Jackie Dempsey: artistic director, composer, pianist, accordionist
- Steve O’Hearn: artistic director, artist, wind player
- Kevin Kornicki: assistant musical director, sound designer, percussionist [all except howandever]
- Autumn Ayers: vocals and lyrics
- David Wallace: electric and acoustic guitar
In addition to the core performers, Squonk Opera also collaborates with a variety of artists and technicians.Several other members were previously part of the group but have since moved on to other projects.
Previous members
- Ryan McMasters: upright and electric bass [Astro-rama]
- Nathan Wilson: Upright & Fretless Bass [Rodeo Smackdown, You are here]
- Jody Abbott: Vocals [Inferno]
- Christina Acosta: Vocals [Rodeo Smackdown, You are here]
- T. Weldon Anderson: Double Bass [Bigsmörgåsbørdwünderwerk]
- Kate Aronson: Vocals [howandever]
- Brian Berkheiser: Electric Bass [howandever, Ha Ha Tali]
- Sean Brennan: Contraption Kit & Rototoms [howandever]
- Nathan Fay: Electric & Double Bass [Inferno]
- Akshay Goel: Tabla & Electric Tabla [howandever]
- Jana Losey: Vocals [Ha Ha Tali, Bigsmörgåsbørdwünderwerk]
- Casi Pacilio: Technical Director [Ha Ha Tali, Bigsmörgåsbørdwünderwerk]
Shows
- Forgotten Works (1995)
- A work focusing on "consumption, waste, and recycling", in collaboration with modern danceModern danceModern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
troupe No Language. Forgotten Works was performed at Keystone Iron & Metal, a Pittsburgh scrapyard; the artists used such unlikely materials as cranes, demolished cars, and metal shearers as part of the performance.
- A work focusing on "consumption, waste, and recycling", in collaboration with modern dance
- Night of the Living Dead: The Opera (1995)
- Squonk Opera was commissioned to set music and live-action performance to the classic Night of the Living DeadNight of the Living DeadNight of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent black-and-white zombie film and cult film directed by George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman. It premiered on October 1, 1968, and was completed on a USD$114,000 budget. After decades of cinematic re-releases, it...
zombie film for City TheatreCity Theatre (Pittsburgh)City Theatre is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh's South Side. It specializes in productions of new plays and has commissioned new works by playwrights on the national theatre scene, including Christopher Durang, Adam Rapp, and Jeffrey Hatcher...
.
- Squonk Opera was commissioned to set music and live-action performance to the classic Night of the Living Dead
- Firedogs (1996)
- A humorous educational multimedia picture of the Pittsburgh steel industry, including such characters as "Bessie the Bessemer FurnaceBessemer processThe Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. The process is named after its inventor, Henry Bessemer, who took out a patent on the process in 1855. The process was independently discovered in 1851 by William Kelly...
".
- A humorous educational multimedia picture of the Pittsburgh steel industry, including such characters as "Bessie the Bessemer Furnace
- The Great Circle Route (1998)
- Subtitled "The Underwater Opera", The Great Circle Route claims inspiration from medical textbooks, GodzillaGodzillais a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...
movies, and Michel FoucaultMichel FoucaultMichel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
in a show that draws on imagery of the underwater world for a journey under the sea.
- Subtitled "The Underwater Opera", The Great Circle Route claims inspiration from medical textbooks, Godzilla
- Bigsmörgåsbørdwünderwerk (1998)
- A surreal tour through the "restaurant kitchen of the mind", in a mix of horror and fantasy.
- Inferno (2001)
- A tale of a mine fire in Centralia, PennsylvaniaCentralia, PennsylvaniaCentralia is a borough and ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its population has dwindled from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to 12 in 2005, 9 in 2007, and 10 in 2010, as a result of a mine fire burning beneath the borough since 1962...
, based on DanteDANTEDelivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
's Divine Comedy. Initially titled Burn during some early performances.
- A tale of a mine fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania
- Rodeo Smackdown (2004)
- Squonk chooses the unlikely setting of the rodeoRodeoRodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
for this retelling of the minotaurMinotaurIn Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
myth.
- Squonk chooses the unlikely setting of the rodeo
- Put your hometown's name here: The Opera (2006-present)
- Music meets multi-media odes to the history and ambiance of various cities, including Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Albany, St. Louis and Bloomington, In. with local talent, video-taped and projected interviews, and a host of local references tailored to each venue's locale.
Places "squonked as of April, 2011 include:
Albany: The Opera;
Baltimore: The Opera;
Bloomington: The Opera;
Bradford: The Opera;
Charleston: The Opera;
Charlotte: The Opera;
Chester County: The Opera;
College Park: The Opera;
Columbia: The Opera;
Houghton: The Opera;
Indiana County: The Opera;
Newark: The Opera;
Pittsburgh: The Opera;
Raritan Valley: The Opera;
Reston: The Opera;
South Orange: The Opera;
St. Louis: The Operetta;
- Astro-rama (Fall, 2008)
- Squonk sends a message to the cosmos from a 40' radio telescope dish mounted to scaffold towers, and tuned to the galactic frequency of B-flat. Rising in scissor lift platforms and cherry pickers, they compose a proud message from our species, power up and transmit.
- Mayhem & Majesty (Spring, 2010)
- The sonic hooligans of Squonk Opera explore the beauty of sound, with live feed cameras, projection puppets and kinetic machines, turning the full, fancy-dress concert setting into a playground of ideas.
CDs
- howandever (1994)
- Ha Ha Tali (1996)
- Bigsmörgåsbørdwünderwerk (2000)
- Inferno (2002)
- Rodeo Smackdown (2004)
- You Are Here (2006)
- Mayhem and Majesty (2010)