Swell
Swell is a contemporary song cycle written by immigrants and children of immigrants, about their immigrant experience, presented live and online by New York-based HERE from March 17-21, 2021. Swell represents the voices and styles of ten composers with roots in countries all across the world, including Taiwan, Mexico, Russia, the Philippines, Israel, Japan, Trinidad, and India. Conceived and produced by playwright, lyricist, and librettist Melisa Tien, who also contributed lyrics to the project, Swell, Live and Online shone under the auspices of stage director Elena Araoz, music director Tian Hui Ng, video designer Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, audio engineer Jon Robertson, and video engineer Paul Deziel.
An archive of the performance is available through May 21, 2021 via www.here.org/swell-online.
In addition to being live, the performances in March were purely remote, and featured performers located all over the map, from New York, to California, to Mexico. They included baritone Ricardo Rivera, soprano Mimi Hilaire, mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn, and tenor Alok Kumar.
Meanwhile, Jon Roberston live-mixed and live-synced Swell's audio from Kansas City, while in Chicago, Paul Deziel live-synced the audio and video feeds and broadcast them to audiences everywhere. Additionally, all rehearsals took place remotely, and required not just Zoom, but the use of ProTools and Audiomovers software.
Swell benefited immensely from the ASL consultation of Alexandria Wailes, who oversaw the beautifully detailed work of certified ASL interpreters Jose Gomez, Justine Rivera, and Kathleen D. Taylor (pictured below interpreting the song Homebound). All told, over thirty artists worked together to bring Swell to life.
Swell, Live and Online was made possible by funding from the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre by the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in association with The New York Foundation for the Arts. Support for ASL interpretation on this production was provided in part through funding from Access A.R.T./New York, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York). Media creation assistance for SWELL was provided in part by Innovations in Socially Distant Performance.
An in-depth interview with producer and lyricist Melisa Tien can be found here.
A round table conversation with three of Swell's composers—Justine F. Chen, Or Matias, and Izzi Ramkissoon—can be found here. and the libretto and production program below:
