Jane Wong, Candida Borges, and Hugo Sanbone: 3 exciting new Composers admitted into the IBOC Career Development Program.
These extraordinary artists have started working on the early stages of new operatic works under the mentorship of our Artistic Director, João MacDowell.
Cândida Borges
Cândida Borges (Brazil) is a musician and transmedia artist, educator, composer, and researcher based in NYC (US). Currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the ICCMR at Plymouth University (UK), a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University (NYC/US), a Fellow Researcher at Antioquia University (Medellín/CO), an Associate Professor at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO). Cândida Borges is a founder and board member at the Brazilian Non-Profit Casa de Arte e Cultura and now a resident composer at IBOC.
Ms. Borges is in the early stages of the development of a new opera inspired by the greek poem “Ulysses’ Odyssey” and on the Best-seller “Sapiens.” The OdysseyOpera presents humanity’s history and its walks around the globe that resulted in our transcultural civilization through the last 30.000 years. This proposal aims to create an immersive opera concert based on the Virtual Reality work of the Transeuntis Mundi Project from the same composer.
Jane Wong
Jane Wong studied composition primarily with Mr. James Dalton at the Boston Conservatory and has completed the New Musical Inc. (sister company of BMI in Los Angeles) 2-year musical theatre writing curriculum. She studied libretto writing with Ms. Lisa Harris from the Guerilla Opera. Jane Wong grew up in an international city, Hong Kong. Her music influences include Beijing Opera, Cantonese Opera, Cantopop, Italian Opera, and church music. Jane is also a dancer, choreographer, and pianist for dance at the Boston Ballet. Her music is often danceable and visually compelling. NMI and other festivals had produced her musical theatre writings.
Ms. Wong is starting to develop a musical comedy about Chinese and Caribean immigrants in NY experimenting with Polyamory.
Hugo Sanbone
Hugo Sanbone is a composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist, and musical director with a charismatic and innovative style. A virtuoso in the trombone and accordion, Mr. Sanbone comes out of the top crop of the exciting music scene of Bahia, Brazil. He has worked as a session player for some of the country’s most prominent artists, such as Ivete Sangalo and Carlinhos Brown. Professor of Brazilian Music and Culture at the University of Bahia, he is also the director for the institution’s Big Band, brass leader for the Neojiba Symphonic Orchestra, and the Orkestra Rumpilezz. His academic research into the traditional forms of Pagode led him to the composition of the repertoire that brought to prominence his own big band, the Sanbone Orchestra. The ensemble came to prominence due to the fusion of classical music with the contagious percussion from Bahia.
Mr. Sanbone will be developing his first opera based on the African-Brazilian mythology of Yemanjá, a major water spirit from the Yoruba religion. She is an orisha: the spirit of rivers and oceans.
These 3 new operas in the making display extraordinary diversity, one of the central pillars of the International Brazilian opera company’s mission. Our new composers come from unique backgrounds, from communities that are dramatically under-represented in the world of classical composition. These three composers represent Latinx, African-American, and Asian backgrounds. IBOC is beyond the political quest for diversity: that’s simply who we are. Far beyond their unique backgrounds, these new works all feature personal interpretations of a poly-cultural environment that is prevalent in our contemporary environment.
We will be looking forward to hearing how these new operatic works will come to life.
Support IBOC bringing more diversity into the world of opera.
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