Native American Heritage Month, Giving Tuesday and more
Thanksgiving & Native American Heritage Month
We at Berkshire Opera Festival have so many reasons to be thankful, but we continue to be most grateful for the friendship and support of all of you, our loyal patrons and donors. We want to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. May your table be filled with delicious food and surrounded by the warm company of your beloved friends and family.
We also want to highlight that November is Native American Heritage Month, when we celebrate the achievements and contributions of Native Americans. In opera, that means recognizing figures like writer, editor, translator, musician, educator, and political activist Zitkala Sa (1876–1938), also known by her missionary and married names Gertrude Simmons Bonnin. Working with American musician William F. Hanson (both pictured above), she wrote the libretto and music for The Sun Dance Opera (1913), the first American Indian opera. Another Native American woman to recognize is Tsianina Redfeather Blackstone (1882–1985), a Muscogee singer, performer, activist, and a collaborator with composer Charles Wakefield Cadman and his librettist Nelle Richmond Eberhart in creating the opera Shanewis (or The Robin Woman) (1918). Its contemporary plot was loosely based on Redfeather's semi-autobiographical stories of Native American life. Debuting at the Metropolitan Opera in 1918, it was performed there again the following season. It became highly popular, and subsequently toured the United States.
To learn more about Native American Heritage Month and Native American history
you can browse the National Archive site here.
Join us in welcoming Claudia d'Alessandro to her new role at BOF!
Many of you may already know Claudia d'Alessandro from her previous roles with BOF, and we are pleased to announce that she recently rejoined the team as our new Engagement Consultant. She shared with us that upon initially meeting Artistic Director and Co-Founder Brian Garman and Director of Production and Co-Founder Jonathon Loy in 2018, she fell in love with their vision for BOF. The daughter of renowned American soprano Phyllis Curtin, and Time/Life Arts and Entertainment Editor and freelance photographer/photo journalist Gene Cook, Claudia - now a freelance photographer, herself - has spent her life surrounded by opera.
“My mother came to the Berkshires in 1946 as a student at Boris Goldovsky’s Tanglewood Opera Program and stayed on at Tanglewood, as Artist in Residence, where she sang and taught for 52 years. I have always believed that opera should resonate among the Berkshire Hills, and Brian and Jonathon have carried that torch beautifully. Their commitment to excellence and their extraordinary artistic vision offer the Berkshires something precious and unique.
"That is why I am now so happy to do everything I can to protect and strengthen BOF in my role as Engagement Consultant, working closely with Executive Director Abi Rollins’s wonderful administration, and BOF’s Board of Directors.”
A sample of Claudia's photography:
If you are interested in contacting Claudia to share your thoughts about BOF's engagement efforts, send her a message here. Welcome, Claudia!
BOF relies on the financial support of our donors and community to fulfill our mission. Your assistance allows us to produce world-class opera right here in the Berkshires. Please consider supporting BOF this Giving Tuesday (November 29) as part of your holiday and year-end giving plans.We here at BOF are so grateful for all of your support.Thank you!
Credits: Top: William F. Hanson and Zitkala Sa, courtesy of the Photographic Archives, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Photo: William Willard. Text is paraphrased from Wikipedia. Claudia d'Alessandro portrait taken by Lee Everett/FineLine Studios, other images were taken by Claudia, visit her site to see more. Giving Tuesday image: Monica Dewey and Theo Hoffman in Heggie's Three Decembers (2022). Photo: Matt Madison-Clark.
