Joel Thompson Interview: Monday Oct 5th 1:30 - 3:00pm ET
Topic: JOEL INTERVIEW - TSD DOCUMENTARY
Time: Oct 5, 2020 01:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 886 1735 6606
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Time: Oct 5, 2020 01:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88617356606?pwd=LzRQQ1NpbWxSRmc1V3BXeENVTWZqZz09
Meeting ID: 886 1735 6606
Passcode: 554969
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,88617356606#,,,,,,0#,,554969# US (San Jose)
+12532158782,,88617356606#,,,,,,0#,,554969# US (Tacoma)
Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
Meeting ID: 886 1735 6606
Passcode: 554969
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kew2uwU5ZC
Joel Thompson Interview Topics
Establishing introduction – name, role in production, establishing details
How did you get started in music?
What is your process when composing?
Can you tell me about the creation of The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed?
Can you talk about what it’s like for you as an artist to create work about Black trauma and work centering Black joy?
Your work Scenes from Childhood feels similar in footprint to The Snowy Day. How did your own childhood inform your work on TSD?
What is your own relationship to the children’s book The Snowy Day?
This is your first opera – what has the collaborative process been like?
What comes first, the words or the music?
What can an opera do that a book can't?
Who is this opera intended for?
Talk about an aria or scene you wrote for The Snowy Day that you particularly love.
Talk about an aria or scene you wrote for The Snowy Day that was challenging.
How has COVID impacted the past seven months of work on the piece? Can you describe the accommodations you and your collaborators have made (working remotely, postponing the premiere, etc)
What was it like during the workshop to see the sets and costume design for the first time?
Do you have any questions you’d like to ask any of your teammates?
(It will be good to have some of these in the can for possible use as a handoff in post)
What can the audience expect (to see, feel, experience) when the curtain goes up?
How did you get started in music?
- When did you start writing music?
- What drew you toward composition?
What is your process when composing?
- What inspires you?
- Is music finished in your head before you write it down?
Can you tell me about the creation of The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed?
- Synopsis of the work, the impetus behind creating it, when it was first performed.
- How was the piece received when it first premiered? How has that changed this year?
- How did the reception to The Seven Last Words impact you, professionally and in terms of artistic development?
Can you talk about what it’s like for you as an artist to create work about Black trauma and work centering Black joy?
- Where are the shared seams, and what are the distinctions?
Your work Scenes from Childhood feels similar in footprint to The Snowy Day. How did your own childhood inform your work on TSD?
- What is unique about composing from the narrative perspective of a child?
What is your own relationship to the children’s book The Snowy Day?
- How did you experience it as a child
- How do you experience it now returning to it as an adult
- Can you speak to the significance of the book, and now the opera, in terms of BIPOC representation in children's literature (and in opera)? This can be framed for you personally, or as you see the impact on the broader culture, or both.
This is your first opera – what has the collaborative process been like?
- What has it been like working with Andrea?
- With Jeremy?
- With Jessica, Amy, and the rest of the team creating sets and costumes?
- With Omer?
- With Patrick?
What comes first, the words or the music?
What can an opera do that a book can't?
Who is this opera intended for?
Talk about an aria or scene you wrote for The Snowy Day that you particularly love.
- What do you love about it
- Why is it personally important to you
- What do you hope the audience experiences hearing/seeing it on stage?
Talk about an aria or scene you wrote for The Snowy Day that was challenging.
- What made it challenging?
- How did you meet those challenges?
How has COVID impacted the past seven months of work on the piece? Can you describe the accommodations you and your collaborators have made (working remotely, postponing the premiere, etc)
What was it like during the workshop to see the sets and costume design for the first time?
Do you have any questions you’d like to ask any of your teammates?
(It will be good to have some of these in the can for possible use as a handoff in post)
What can the audience expect (to see, feel, experience) when the curtain goes up?