Is This America? On Sale Now! A Not to be Missed Opera for Our Times

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5631″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_column_text]Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: With summer just around the corner, we’re celebrating the longer days and sunlight with our new season. How wonderful! How exciting! This year, our theme of “voting as freedom”, in anticipation of the upcoming elections, is anchored by our season opener, “Is This America?,” a […]

White Snake Projects Announces Opera Performances and Community Events, Sep-Dec 2024

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5631″ img_size=”full” onclick=”link_image” css_animation=”fadeIn”][vc_column_text] “WE ARE AMERICA” 2024 ELECTION YEAR THEME SING OUT STRONG: Emancipated Voices (Sep 15) free musical showcase of citizens’ original songs – “What Does Voting Mean To You?” IS THIS AMERICA? Fully-Staged Opera World Premiere (Sep 20-22) composed by 84-year-old Black female composer Mary D. Watkins about civil rights activist […]

Domme & Giovanni Is A Triumph!

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: We closed our 2023-24 season with the irreverent, colorful, sexy dark comedy, Domme & Giovanni, a take-off of Mozart’s Don Giovanni! Those lucky enough to snag a seat to this one-of-a-kind show were treated to superb French food and wine at La Voile, Brookline and the artistry of […]

Announcing Ticket Sales for Monkey

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5285″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: Tickets are on sale TODAY for Monkey, A Kung Fu Puppet Parable. YAY!!! It’s an amazing show so be sure you get your tickets. We know it’s amazing because when do you ever see “MONKEY,” “KUNG FU,”, and “PUPPET,” all together in one phrase? I daresay, […]

Announcing White Snake Project’s 2023/24 Season

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5369″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: We are so proud to announce our second full season. YAY! And a special thank you to all who made our first season a success. We start off in September with the amazing, family-friendly opera MONKEY: A Kung Fu Puppet Parable. We know it’s amazing because […]

Major Funding from Creative Capital

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]So happy and proud that Brent Michael Davids, with the support and help from White Snake Projects, has won a major Creative Capital grant. We will be producing his powerful and moving Requiem for America. http://www.requiemforamerica.com/blog/major-funding-from-creative-capital[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Show Out Boston!

WOW! What a night! Boston showed up, showed out and showed off! We are so grateful to all our partners, audience members, and supporters who worked so hard to make this event a success. Big kudos to all. We’re planning next year’s Show Out Boston! now. Please join us again. Be safe, be well, our […]

Thanks for Celebrating with us 🥰

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5138″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: We are still heady from the gorgeous performances of Let’s Celebrate!, at WGBH’s Calderwood Studio. What a show! It was an occasion of many firsts for us – first time performing in a TV studio before a live studio audience, first time streaming live to a […]

Cerise Jacobs on All Things Considered

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Founding artist director of White Snake Projects and opera-maker Cerise Jacobs was featured on GBH’s All Things Considered this week with host Arun Rath. “What we want to do is to celebrate some of these diverse holiday traditions and introduce them to our neighbors and our friends and to the American audience so that we […]

I Am A Dreamer Gets Pittsburgh Premiere

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dkeLPU8C5Q” el_width=”60″ align=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams is back! YAY! It’s opening in Pittsburgh October 14-16 and I cannot wait to see it again. Produced by Resonance Works and conducted by Dreamer conductor, Maria Sensi Sellner, it’s just as relevant as the day it premiered in Boston in September 2019 as White […]

We Did It!

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”5059″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: We did it! We completed our three performance run of Cosmic Cowboy with no casualties to Covid-19 (thank you Sumerian gods, our Covid Health Liaison, Stephen Jackson, and our team who followed all the protocols). We only had to struggle, as always with our drive for […]

Announcing White Snake Project’s 2022/23 Season

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4937″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Thanks to a recently announced $750k grant from the Mellon Foundation, Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company, White Snake Projects (WSP), are pleased to announce their first complete season of performances in 2022-23. Kicking off the season is Cosmic Cowboy, a poli sci-fi opera composed by award-winning MIT faculty member and […]

WSP Celebrates AAPI Heritage Month

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: This month, America celebrates AAPI Heritage Month. For those of us who identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander, we celebrate our heritage everyday. As an Asian American woman who emigrated from Singapore to the US, it’s an interesting phenomenon to celebrate, well, just being . . . myself. […]

White Snake Projects Wins $750,000 Mellon Grant

On the heels of their performances of Sing Out Strong: Remembered Voices, a musical commemoration of the overwhelming number of lives lost to the pandemic since the beginning of 2020, Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company, White Snake Projects (WSP), are pleased to announce the award of a three-year grant from the Mellon Foundation […]

SOS: Remembered Voices Program Book

Michael, Max and Me

Remembering Michael Johnson From his wife, Sandra Johnson I met Michael online He was in the Bronx I was in Brazil After seven months of talking He flew to Brazil with a ring We were married for fifteen years I loved this dry tough black man Who was not for everyone But perfect for me […]

Prison Lawyer

Remembering Eric William Warner By Hank Warner We grew up collecting pollywogs after big rains Eric and I Adventuring new horizons on bikes Imitating major leaguers in the schoolyard And singing along to “American Pie” Eric and I Life was simple Life was good Then things changed Eric and I grew apart Until he began […]

A Nap-By-The-Beach Kind of Guy

Remembering Mohammad Jawed By his daughters, Ghazal, Hannah and Fareen   Our dad was born in Pakistan He became a doctor and settled in Corbin, Kentucky Where he practiced for 23 years He was game for just about anything I wanted to paint his toenails He was, like, “OK” Just really chill A nap-by-the beach […]

I Was Doing Time, Time Was Not Doing Me

Remembering Darrell Billy Parks By Trena Parks I was doing time, time was not doing me . . . I accepted my sentence, an unfair sentence For an accidental murder while crazed on coke The judge didn’t hear my cry for help He only saw my black skin And sentenced me to 100 years in […]

Blues Man

Remembering Wade Hickam From his family and the Moe Ribbs Blues Band (Rich Greenberg, co-founder) Wade Hickam picked up a guitar When he was seventeen And never put it down again A natural self taught musician He rocked with his guitar Until he discovered the blues In a rundown downtown bar He put his foot […]

I’m Sorry, I’m Sorry . . .

Remembering Hisaki Araya By Masaki Araya “I’m sorry, I’m sorry “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” you said As our mother nursed her forehead where you hit her “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” you said As the police officers handcuffed you and took you away Since then, you lived in an institution Schizophrenia stripping away your mind, your […]

The Woman Who Tried to Fly

Remembering Dr. Nola Mae Moore From the Moore family Nola Mae Moore, our fierce and beloved mother Championed patient and physicians’ rights She met dad on the bus to Army Reserve bootcamp And practiced medicine with him for 30 years Born in the kitchen of a 40 acre farm in Barron County, Wisconsin She could […]

He Loved His Red Fusquinha

Remembering Celio Salgueiro From his daughter, Joselia Reis Dinaj Composer: Jon Grier My father, Celio Salgueiro Came to the America,1982, a better life to bloom For many years we were apart Until one day, he sent for us, until one day he sent for use When I arrived in my new home, a small apartment […]

Rancher Raymond’s Last Sunset

Remembering Raymond Reeves From the Reeves’ family Composer: Robert Howard Our Dad Raymond led a storybook life, A proud Texas rancher A man who would place his kids on a new horse Just after bucked off by another He loved old western movies and his country music And like anyone growing crops for a living, […]

Sunday Dinners

By Leslie Lamar Parker Composer: Dorian Wallace When great-grandmother died… When Little Mama, she died. Great-grandmother died… So did her Sunday dinners Packed into Little Mama’s house I ate macaroni and cheese, and collard greens, yam Cornbread, potato salad, fried chicken And as much as I could smuggle To the kids’ table When great-grandmother died… […]

White Snake Projects Presents “Sing Out Strong: Remembered Voices,” Tributes from Families Who Lost Loved Ones to COVID (March 11)

Since the start of the pandemic, Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company, White Snake Projects, have been developing a trilogy of virtual operas revolving around populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19: essential workers, the incarcerated, and survivors of intimate partner violence. Now Sing Out Strong: Remembered Voices, the fifth installment of White Snake’s popular community […]

The Pandemic Trilogy On Demand: January 21–February 28, 2022

We’re thrilled to announce we’re ringing in 2022 with The Pandemic Trilogy — Alice in the Pandemic, Death By Life and A Survivor’s Odyssey — on demand from January 21 through February 28. There’ll be lots of additional content including a documentary on the making of the trilogy with interviews with our creatives, artists and technologists. To celebrate 2022, the price for the […]

Founder Cerise Lim Jacobs Named One of Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals for 2021

White Snake Project’s founder and executive producer, Cerise Lim Jacobs, was named one of Musical America’s “Top 30 Professionals of the Year.” The theme for this year’s award is “The Pandemic: Meeting the Moment,” honoring artists who emerged as innovators and leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jacobs was nominated for her unprecedented shift to creating […]

PROGRAM BOOK – Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices

White Snake Projects Presents Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices, Including Writers from Virtual Opera Death by Life (Press Release)

Galvanized by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May of 2020, Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company, White Snake Projects, developed the virtual opera Death by Life – exploring  the intersection of systemic racism and mass incarceration with texts written by incarcerated writers and their families and a score by five Black composers – to stand as a monument of support […]

Just Announced: “Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices” to Take Place November 20

The pandemic has changed our entire way of life. It has changed the way we work, recreate, eat, learn, teach, interact with friends and family. It has forced us to confront the fact that life is precarious, fragile and precious. It has exposed the great divide in American society, with black and brown people disproportionately […]

Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices, “MUSIC”

MUSIC Text by Sarah Allen, music by Sarah Taylor Ellis I hear a song, such a sad, sad song, yet beneath the words there’s hope. I see tears of pain, of longing and regret. I hear dreams strum on a guitar. I crave to look at my life and retrace the past which floats before […]

Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices, “FEATHER”

FEATHER Text by Dana P.R. Schultze, music by Johanny Navarro A single feather fell from my ceiling I certainly was not expecting that Nor was I expecting such a feeling From inside this jail cell where I’ve sat Minute after day after month, sitting Waiting for a sign, waiting for a hope A feather falls […]

Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices, “Gambler’s Remorse”

Gambler’s Remorse Text by Devon Terrell, music by Andrew Conklin Whisper me a secret lyric grind the melody with my bones let the wind from the trumpet scatter the ash for miles winner’s prize in loser’s grip empty me with tease o’ sleaze bankrupt emotions in debt there’s no play left I dropped a tear […]

Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices, “El Reno”

EL RENOText by Terry Hedin, music by SiHyun Uhm * El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in Oklahoma is a transfer center for federal inmates, who are then transported from there to other federal prisons throughout the country. EL RENOToday, I gazed upon the Oklahoma plain,felt the wind blowing upon my chest.The same breeze that, in […]

Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices, “All of Us, In Prison”

All of Us, In Prison Text by Jevon Jackson, music by Adore Alexander  Some prisons are pistol-thick,core-earth densewith a long electric fence that wrapsaround,and some prisons are softerthan the molecules in muslin,as it drapes across the bundled bed,clinging to your body;Some prisons taste likesalt, copper, sludgewhen you bite and crunch downto the marrow,and some prisons […]

Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices, “salsa meditation”

salsa meditation Text by Hal Cobb, music by Drew Amendola my hands will smell for days of onions, garlic and jalapeños despite repeated washings after slicing, dicing and mincing with my trusty lid-o-matic and plastic picnic knife essential utensils of a prison prep 8 chef in a concrete and steel cell-cum-kitchen I love the feel […]

Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices, “writing = survival”

Writing = survival Text by Joseph Dole, music by Patricio Molina Writing = survival. I write to release anger. I write to release pain. I write to release stress. I write to obtain and gain. I write to gain my freedom. I write to obtain sustenance. I write to grasp my own knowledge. I write […]

Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices, “A Brick in my Cell”

A Brick in my Cell Text by Shareaf Fleming, music by  Jake Berran A brick in my cell just grew a mouth You wouldn’t believe what tumbled out Stories of this wretched cell, How warriors barely made it out Now I am locked in a box Trying with everything I have to box with a […]

Sing Out Strong: Incarcerated Voices, “Why They Wanna Cage Us”

Why They Wanna Cage UsText by James Soto, music by Del’Shawn Taylor They tell us to live on minimum wages That’s outrageous.Put us on public aid so our mama can raise us,That’s supposed to save us.We learn to survive, life don’t phase us.But when we hustle in ‘dem streetsThey wanna cage us. When we see […]

SOS: Incarcerated Voices, “The Beauty In Me”

The Beauty in Me Based on text by text by WM. Peeples, music by Iván Rodriguez Please look at me, see past my scars To the beauty in me. Don’t focus on the wrongs I’ve done That’ll increase your scorn, Instead feel the warmth of my heart And the light that adorns. When I Walked […]

SOS: Incarcerated Voices Complete Songs and Lyrics

  The Beauty in Me Based on text by text by WM. Peeples, music by Ivan Rodriguez Please look at me, see past my scarsTo the beauty in me. Don’t focus on the wrongs I’ve done That’ll increase your scorn,Instead feel the warmth of my heartAnd the light that adorns. When IWalked in darkness my pain […]

Tomorrow is Opening Night!

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: It’s the day before! I’m in rehearsal now with the team as we put the finishing touches on this profoundly moving opera. The interconnectedness among the performers, despite the fact that they’re not in the same space, really speaks to the way that we’ve been connecting with each other these […]

Five Days Until Opening Night!

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: It’s the week of! We’re counting the days until Friday, September 24 when we open A Survivor’s Odyssey. Time is zipping by and I wish for a few extra hours each day to run that scene again, to add hair on the pigs, to rebuild the lighting, to polish some […]

PROGRAM BOOK: A Survivor’s Odyssey

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: It’s been an amazing week! We just completed our three part activist forums created with our partners as part of the ecosystem in which world premiere opera, A Survivor’s Odyssey lives.  Thank you audience members for coming on this journey of learning with us, and thank you dear partners for […]

SYNOPSIS: A Survivor’s Odyssey: The Journey of Penelope and Circe

[The story of Penelope and Circe alternates between the myths of their relationships with Odysseus in The Odyssey and present day reality of living in pandemic times, exploring what this means for those who face sexual violence.] World premiere virtual opera – September 24, 26 & 28. Get your tickets now!  Act 1 Circe Kills […]

Program Book: A Survivor’s Odyssey Online Forums

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: Welcome back! We hope you had a wonderful summer! Hopefully September will bring some spectacular sunny days. It will also bring the excitement of our world premiere of A Survivor’s Odyssey: The Journey of Penelope and Circe. It’s the third installment of WSP’s Pandemic Trilogy and it’s live online […]

Tickets On Sale Now for “A Survivor’s Odyssey”

We’re excited to announce that tickets are now on sale for the third and final opera in White Snake Projects’ Pandemic Trilogy: A Survivor’s Odyssey: The Journey of Penelope and Circe. Like the first two operas in the Trilogy, A Survivor’s Odyssey will premiere LIVE in cyberspace, at 7:30pm, September 24, 26 and 28, 2021. For […]

PermaDeath: What Does it Mean to Die Permanently?

It troubled me that my son came to White Snake Projects’ productions reluctantly from obligation. I asked him one day, “What would it take for you and your friends to really want to come see opera?” He replied, “If the experience could be like the opera scene in the Fifth Element.” For those of you […]

Naga is an Opera News Critics’ Choice!

I remember back in 2014 when I first met Scott Wheeler. We had lunch together to talk about a potential collaboration on a new opera, Naga (Sanskrit for “protector snake.”) I told Scott that Naga was instigated by guess who? Charles, of course, who kept asking how the White Snake came to be. Charles’s questions […]

REV. 23, Following Charles Through Heaven and Hell

I have Charles to thank (yet again) for REV. 23, an opera which explores heaven, hell and everything in between. I was wondering one day about where Charles was. It amused me that my incorrigible, irascible and impossible husband wouldn’t be caught dead (pardon the pun) in heaven (not that he’d be welcome there) as […]

Ouroboros Trilogy: Following the Ancient Snake Who Eats Its Tail

What’s crazier than two neophytes making a new opera? Making three of course, all connected by the ouroboros snake in an endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Charles and I conceived of Ouroboros Trilogy – Naga, Madame White Snake, Gilgamesh – as a trio of grand operas to be performed in one day: One […]

White Snake Projects Awarded Civic Practice Grant from Opera America

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: “A healing moment occurs for the person who has told you their story, but also for you as the one who has accepted the story,” said Murray Sinclair, Anishinaabe leader. We’re honored to share the news that White Snake Projects and its indigenous partners, including the United American Indians of […]

Madame White Snake, a Transformative Role Model

In 2005, I started to think about what I would give Charles for his 75th birthday. Charles never wanted “things;” but he was passionate about opera, so I commissioned a new music group to make a song cycle for him. The commission did not get off the ground. Panicked that I was going to miss his […]

White Snake Projects at Five Years

A Loving Retrospective on Charles, the Visionary Who Made This Happen It’s coming up soon — White Snake Projects will be five years old in September. Neither Charles (husband, artistic partner, visionary, daredevil, risk taker, raconteur, impresario — you get the picture . . .) nor I ever dreamed that WSP would become an activist opera […]

Just Announced: A Survivor’s Odyssey Premieres September 24, 2021

Following the resounding success of the virtual opera Death by Life, treating the subjects of long-term incarceration and systemic racism, Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company White Snake Projects announce their third live virtual world premiere opera since the beginning of the pandemic. A Survivor’s Odyssey: The Journey of Penelope and Circe uses characters […]

Program Book: “Death By Life”

“To Breathe” — A Virtual Exhibition Exploring Art & Imagination Inside Prisons

Featuring visual artworks by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists, this virtual gallery, To Breathe, is part of White Snake Project’s Death By Life series on “Understanding and Responding to Mass Incarceration” in collaboration with the Pozen Center Human Rights Lab. The title of our virtual exhibition, To Breathe, was inspired by Renaldo Hudson’s artist statement for his […]

Program Book: Understanding and Responding to Mass Incarceration

Three Online Events Exploring Systemic Racism and Long-Term Incarceration (March 30, April 6 & 13)

Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company, White Snake Projects, are pleased to announce three online events leading up to the premiere of their new virtual opera, Death By Life. Conceived as a monument of support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the opera […]

Explore with us the intersection of mass incarceration & systemic racism

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: We are thrilled to announce three upcoming forums presented in partnership with the University of Chicago Human Rights Lab as a prelude to Death By Life. Each session will be free to attend and streamed over Zoom. Read about about each forum, and follow the links to register below!  March 30 – […]

Back by popular demand: Alice in the Pandemic!

This unique show that changed the way opera is made digitally will be back for a limited time only: February 12- 28, 2021. For those who missed it when it premiered LIVE last year, here’s your chance to watch a recording of the live performance. For those who saw it the first time, please come […]

White Snake Projects Announces New Virtual Opera “Death by Life”

Galvanized by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May, Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company, White Snake Projects, began a process of development for a new production that would stand as a monument of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The result is the virtual opera Death by Life, which explores […]

Update on the Dreamers!

We hope this new year finds you safe and well. Now that the excitement of the inauguration has abated, I’d like to share with you some good news announced by our new President, just in case you missed it, regarding Dreamers, whom we’ve championed through our work in “I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer […]

On Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: I’ll never forget my visit to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN, a museum honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s in the Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was assassinated as he leant over the balcony in front of his room, #306. Dr. King was in Memphis to support striking […]

Happy New Year from White Snake Projects!

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: May 2021 find you safe and warm. May we reunite one day with family and friends. And may you always savor the sweetness of life. With love from all of us at White Snake Projects,An Activist Opera Company.

Seasons Greetings from White Snake Projects!

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: 2020 is almost over. Words seem inadequate to describe the momentous events we’ve lived through and continue to wrestle with – the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, national elections . . .  We’ve lost our anchors of time and place, our livelihoods, education, friends and family, and for those of […]

Thank you!

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: Thank you for coming to Sing Out Strong:  Essential Voices, a world premiere concert celebrating essential workers by commissioning composers to set their stories and words to music.  Seen and Heard International called the concert a “triumph of artistry and technology.”  The full review is HERE. The songs, testaments […]

Announcing “Sing Out Strong: Essential Voices” (Press Release)

The October world premiere of White Snake Projects’ Alice in the Pandemic – a virtual opera bycreator and librettist Cerise Jacobs and composer Jorge Sosa – met with well-deserved praise from every corner, for its innovation and the possibilities it revealed for the future of digital opera production. Building on that momentum, next week the […]

SOS: Essential Voices Songs and Lyrics

  Caring for our co-workers Based on text by Melhim Bou Alwan, music by Breezy Love When I shook her hand this morning to introduce myselfMy patient nearly cried when I wasn’t petrified to touch her.Within those first ten days as the sole physicianA community cross section had already collected in hospital doors.I cared for […]

PTSD Resources

Several audience members report being triggered by the issues explored in Alice in the Pandemic.  We had a discussion about this at our Talk Back at our last show.  As promised, here are a few links to Covid-19 mental health resources.  Please reach out for help if you need to.  You are not alone. When […]

A Letter to Our Friends

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: WE DID IT.  Three times, we did it! Three amazing runs, all different, yet the same.  Different because it’s LIVE performance and our artists are creating artistry in the moment;  the same because we’re telling a universal story of living in pandemic times, journeying to find ourselves, and stretching […]

Reflections on Opening Night of “Alice”

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: WE DID IT!  We took maiden technology for its first outing and got to the end of the show with only a hiccup.  We made a world premiere opera remotely.  We synced our singers live to 3G animation and music.  We are proud of ourselves, our team, our artists […]

“Alice in the Pandemic” Program Book

Dress Rehearsal Update: Two Days to Go!

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: As we learned last night, when you’re preparing a world-premiere digital opera, Tech Week gets taken to a whole new level! The Internet demons were not cooperating and the inherent risk of digital performance that we had until yesterday understood only theoretically, was brought home with full force. I […]

Q&A with Tian Hui Ng

For Tian Hui Ng, going digital has meant rethinking everything he knows about conducting. Find out how the Music Director of “Alice in the Pandemic” changed his techniques to bring Jorge Sosa’s music and Cerise Lim Jacobs’s libretto to life online. How has your work as a music director changed since everything became digital and […]

First Dress Rehearsal for “Alice in the Pandemic

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: We had our first dress rehearsal last night!  It was so gratifying to see the different elements of the show coalesce – from the 3D animations, projections, electronics, orchestra, and children’s chorus to the sheer artistry of our singers which brought the show to life. Working in the digital […]

Students at Lesley Art + Design Respond to “Alice in the Pandemic”

We are so excited to share these beautiful designs, which were created for us by the talented students at Lesley Art + Design. Under the instruction of Animation Department Chair Catriona Baker and Professor Michael Talbot, the students were asked to create artistic responses to “Alice in the Pandemic.” Here’s what the students came up […]

Songwriters Selected for Sing Out Strong: Essential Voices

We’re proud to announce the songwriters for Sing Out Strong: Essential Voices, which will premiere in an ALL-LIVE concert in December 2020. Essential Voices continues to amplify the voices of essential workers — the heroes who are keep us safe through the pandemic — just as Alice in the Pandemic does. In SOS: Essential Voices, we will hear the actual words […]

White Snake Projects Premieres Alice in the Pandemic, Ambitious Virtual Opera Composed by Jorge Sosa (Oct 23–27)

On October 23–27, activist opera company White Snake Projects presents the world premiere of Alice in the Pandemic, a new virtual opera composed by Jorge Sosa. Led by creator and librettist Cerise Jacobs, the company has managed not only to quickly and ingeniously adapt to the changed performing arts environment, postponing until spring the originally slated premiere of composer Elena Ruehr’s poli-sci-fi opera Cosmic Cowboy, but […]

Meet the Cast

In between rehearsals, intensive tech training, and avatar transfigurations, cast members Carami Hilaire (Alice) and Eve Gigliotti (Mrs. Lee, her mother) took a little time to share a bit about themselves and their experience making Alice during this very strange year. Carami Hilaire What made you want to be an opera singer?  Carami Hilaire: I haven’t […]

“Alice in the Pandemic,” Activism and Opera

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: We’re less than one month away from the premiere of Alice in the Pandemic and we’re still deep in pandemic times.  The issues Jorge Sosa and I felt driven to write about are heightened, not lessened by time passing.   As a mission driven company, White Snake Projects is committed […]

Q&A with Elena Araoz

Elena Araoz is a stage director of theater and opera working internationally, Off-Broadway and across the country. She directed White Snake Projects’ I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams in 2019, and continues her work with WSP by directing Alice in the Pandemic. Read on to find out more about her approach to directing […]

Q&A With Curvin Huber

Meet White Snake Projects’ Director of Innovation Curvin Huber. In addition to his position as Professor of Interactive Media at Becker College, Curvin lends his design and technological expertise to many of White Snake Projects’ productions. Most recently, Curvin helped to create groundbreaking new motion capture technology for Alice in the Pandmic. Read more about […]

Q&A with Andy Carluccio

Meet Andy Carluccio, the video engineer for Alice in the Pandemic. Andy is the president of Liminal Entertainment Technologies, a company focused on providing industry-leading services to enable virtual theater, performances, and creative projects. Read his bio. Q: What made you want to be a Video Engineer? Is it something you studied in college? I […]

It’s Time to Get Your Tickets!

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: Today’s the day! Tickets for Alice in the Pandemic are on sale NOW!  The premiere is October 23–27, 2020, and we can’t wait to share this show with you.   We’ve spent a lot of time since lockdown thinking about how to re-create a robust online opera experience which will […]

Press Release: Team of Tech Innovators Drives Virtual Opera Alice in the Pandemic

Alice in the Pandemic, a new virtual opera from activist opera company White Snake Projects, led by creator and librettist Cerise Jacobs, represents an ingenious adaptation to the changed performing arts environment. Renowned for its pioneering work with new technology onstage, the company has now characteristically reached out to a team of tech innovators around […]

Take a Tour Through Alice’s World

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: We’re excitedly (and frantically) developing Alice in the Pandemic. We started this project in May, and we have finished the music “workshop” and are moving forward on orchestra rehearsals, all in the new world of cyberspace! The tech team is forging ahead with creating the 3D animation which will be the […]

Immigration: Dreaming of A Real Future

Dear Friends of White Snake Projects: Thank you for attending our forum, Immigration: Dreaming of A Real Future, and thank you to the panelists and tech team who contributed your time and hard work. We are grateful to our partner, the Immigration Initiative at Harvard for hosting this webinar. It was a moving and powerful event […]

Now for Some Good News

In these pandemic times where good news is scarce, we’re overjoyed to share with you some great news on the White Snake front!

PRESS RELEASE: Responding to Challenge of COVID-19 Crisis, Creator and Librettist Cerise Jacobs and White Snake Projects Pivot from Live Performance to Virtual Opera with Premiere of Alice in the Pandemic (Oct 22–27)

As COVID-19 plays havoc with arts programming around the globe, creator and librettist Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company, White Snake Projects, are once again pointing the way ahead, with a nimble pivot to sidestep the uncertainty surrounding fall programming.

Working Towards Justice and Equality for All

Today we honor and celebrate Juneteenth, as well a victory for Dreamers. We renew our pledge as an activist opera company to support and work for #BlackLivesMatter and towards a day when there is truly justice and equality for all.

A Call to Action

It’s difficult to find words to describe how precious breath is. For the last two months, we’ve heard heart-wrenching testimony from health care professionals as they watched their patients struggle to breathe. “I’ll never take each breath for granted again,” Ashley Crumpler, Critical Care Nurse from Atlanta, said. Last week, we saw George Floyd struggle to breathe as a police officer charged with protecting us knelt on his neck and crushed the breath out of him. “I can’t breathe,” are words we cannot, and should not, forget.

A Groundbreaking Hybrid

It was wonderful to be with you on May 13 at the world premiere of Sing Out Strong: DeColonized Voices. The authenticity of the lyrics combined with the power of music produced an evening of moving and meaningful songs performed with great artistry. For me, a crucial part of the evening was you, our audience. I have been longing to feel your fellowship again and to share moments of sublime beauty with you. Sing Out Strong fulfilled that longed for need.

Press Release: Second Season of White Snake Projects Community Engagement Initiative, Sing Out Strong: DeColonized Voices, Moves Online

Creator and librettist Cerise Jacobs and her activist opera company, White Snake Projects, are proud to announce the second season of the community engagement initiative Sing Out Strong, fostering the creation of new songs on themes arising from the company’s mainstage operas. Sing Out Strong: DeColonized Voices will complement and add context to Jacobs’s new […]

Join Us For Sing Out Strong: DeColonized Voices

We hope that you are all well and safe. While all theaters and opera houses are dark, we’re grateful that the performing arts are not “dark” as arts organizations turn to digital platforms to share music and opera.

Sing Out Strong: DeColonized Voices Coming to a Screen Near You

We hope that you’re all safe and well as we do our part with social distancing. At this point, it’s impossible to tell when this great trial will be over. WSP has postponed our second SING OUT STRONG concert tour – Sing Out Strong: DeColonized Voices – from May to September, even as we’re planning a virtual world premiere of the concert for May 13.

Music Lifts the Soul

Like most of you, I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster ride. Some days, I feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the suffering now and which is yet to come, yet other days, I feel that all will be well. Staying home can be claustrophobic, but it does not have to be so, as we are lucky to live in an age of connectivity. I’m honing my hitherto non-existent skills at Zooming, Facetiming, and Airdropping; as well as good old fashioned skills like writing, walking (weather permitting), and trying to keep connected to friends and family while practicing social distancing.

Next Stop, Pittsburgh!

I’m thrilled to share the news that last year’s timely immigrant story, I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams, will premiere at the Hazlett Theater in Pittsburgh on October 23 and 25, 2020, as Resonance Works 2020-2021 season opener. I know that many of you were so moved by Dreamer that you wanted to see […]

Press Release: Resonance Works Pittsburgh becomes the second company to present acclaimed immigration opera, ‘I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams.’

On October 23 & 25, RESONANCE WORKS will open its 2020-2021 season with I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams at the New Hazlett Theater on Pittsburgh’s North Side. A collaboration between composer Jorge Sosa and creator and librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs, this acclaimed new opera champions the near-perpetual struggles of immigrants and the often-overlooked complexities of their stories. Building on its reputation for bringing the most important new American music to Pittsburgh audiences, Resonance Works becomes only the second company to present this celebrated new work.