Boston’s Guerilla Opera and the Nichols House Museum are co-presenting I Give You My Home, a world premiere chamber opera inspired by the life of Bostonian activist Rose Standish Nichols, and features music and original libretto by local composer Beth Wiemann, whose work brings to light the efforts and passions of Rose Standish Nichols, a singular woman, in dramatic form on the site of the museum on Beacon Hill in Boston, which was her family home. Rose’s efforts to affect change through the Women’s Peace Party and Suffrage Movements and in her professional career strike us for their persistence in spite of the barriers.
Wiemann wrote the monodrama for Guerilla Opera’s core ensemble members: soprano and Artistic Director Aliana de la Guardia as Rose, percussionist Mike Williams and saxophonist Philipp Stäudlin. “We want to inspire future generations to pursue their unique passions and make an impact on their own terms. This is everything Guerilla Opera is about!” Aliana de la Guardia, Guerilla Opera’s Artistic Director.
The Nichols House Museum preserves and interprets the home of landscape architect, suffragist, and pacifist Rose Standish Nichols and her family. In 1930, Rose Standish Nichols (1872-1960) inherited the property from her parents and began laying the plans for its establishment as a museum. Soon after her death in 1960, the Nichols House Museum opened to the public. Highlights of its collection include sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Flemish tapestries, Japanese woodblock prints, and Boston furniture.
Acclaimed theater and film director Cara Consilvio and brings the show to life for for five performances this weekend within the period rooms at 55 Mount Vernon Street, in Boston. Each performance concludes with a tea reception in honor of the Nichols Family tradition of hosting salons, which was started by Rose Standish Nichols and her mother. Opening night on June 3rd concludes with a reception and champagne toast to Guerilla Opera’s 15th – Anniversary Season. The full live experience including the reception runs roughly 45 minutes.
Tickets and can be purchased HERE from the Nichols House Museum. Because this is an intimate performance with limited seating, and because proof of vaccination is required, tickets must be reserved in advance. Admission will not be sold at the door.
In addition to the live show, Guerilla Opera has produced a film of “I Give You My Home” as well as a studio album. They have just concluded production on the film this week, which ties together beautiful, scenic and cinematic locations in New England communities in Boston, Cornish, NH, Windsor, VT, and Dummerston, VT. The Guerillas anticipate that the film will have its premiere screening next March with a simultaneous studio album release.
I Give You My Home is supported by an Opera Grants for Women Stage Directors and Conductors award from OPERA America, a Live Arts Boston grant award from The Boston Foundation and their partners the Barr Foundation and Dunamis Boston, and a CIP Projects grant award from Mass Cultural Council. The development of the opera has been in partnership with the University of Maine, Orono, The Switchboard artist residency program in Haverhill, MA and the Nichols House Museum in Boston, Saint-Gaudens National Park in Cornish, NH, the Path of Life Sculpture Garden and Hedge Maze in Windsor, VT, and Naulakha (the Rudyard Kipling House) and Scott Farm Orchard in Dummerston, VT.
For more information visit Guerilla Opera!