Objects & Apparitions: the art of being Elizabeth Bishop

Late in life, Bishop meets, loses, and regains love. And writes her one and only villanelle.

Elizabeth Bishop portrayed by Gweneth Ann Rand

Narration by Laure Meloy

Script and original concept by Brigitte Baden-Rennie and Laure Meloy

Original settings of Elizabeth Bishop poetry by Paula M. Kimper

Incidental music from the CD 'One Art' by Laure Meloy & Christopher Gould

Elizabeth finds love again, but encounters a few obstacles...

Elizabeth Bishop portrayed by Gráinne Gillis

Narration by Laure Meloy

Original setting of Objects & Apparitions composed by Paula M. Kimper

Incidental music recorded by Laure Meloy and Christopher Gould

Scripted by Brigitte Baden-Rennie and Laure Meloy

Interview with contralto, producer, voice-over artist and activist Gráinne Gillis, who will portray Elizabeth Bishop in episode 4.

Elizabeth faces a crisis. Portrayed by Brigitte Baden Rennie, Laure Meloy, Gráinne Gillis, and Gweneth Ann Rand.

Scripted by Brigitte Baden Rennie & Laure Meloy

Arrangement of 'I am in need of music' devised by Laure Meloy

Incidental music from Debussy's 'Spleen', featuring Laure Meloy & Christopher Gould, recorded by Femme Lunatique Productions.

Outtakes from artist interviews that were too good to leave on the cutting room floor...with Paula M. Kimper, Gráinne Gillis, Brigitte Baden-Rennie. Incidental music features Laure Meloy and Christopher Gould.

We chat with Paula M. Kimper, composer of the One Art song set - Casabianca, The Shampoo, Objects & Apparitions, and One Art.

Paula is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has been active in New York City for over 35 years as a composer of opera, theater, dance, film and song. Her entire catalogue of scores was acquired by the Loeb Music Library of Harvard University.

Ms. Kimper's first opera, Patience & Sarah, premiered in Lincoln Center Festival '98. The Captivation of Eunice Williams, commissioned by the PVMA of Deerfield, MA, premiered in July 2004, and was most recently performed in Skopje, Macedonia.  The Bridge of San Luis Rey, based on Thornton Wilder’s novel, was seen at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, MA in 2007.  Ms. Kimper's latest opera TRUTH, An American Opera about Sojourner Truth, premiered in February 2012 at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA. The chamber version, performed by Paula Kimper Ensemble, appeared in the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival, and in 2014 at Riverside Theatre inside Historic Riverside Church. "Here is a Place" was commissioned by OPERA America for "The OPERA America Songbook" to commemorate the 2012 opening of the National Opera Center in New York City. ONE ART was commissioned by soprano Laure Meloy who stars in the one-woman opera/cabaret based on Elizabeth Bishop’s life and poetry.

Kimper has received commissions from American Opera Projects, Amy Pivar Dances, Downtown Music Productions, Richard Daniels, Femme Lunatique Productions, New York Festival of Song, Old Deerfield Productions, OPERA America, The Phoenix Concerts, The Walt Whitman Project and others.

Paula Kimper Ensemble is a participant in the New York Opera Alliance (NYOA) and Paula has served as director of the Executive Committee of NYOA. She was one of five inaugural participants in the Columbia University Community Scholars Program (2013-16).

Incidental music heard during this interview is from: Kimper’s recording Flight of the Harmonic Messenger; and from the duet from Patience & Sarah, 'I want to live', with Lori Phillips and Elaine Valby, included on the Lesbian American Composers compilation CD, 1998.

Episode 1: Casabianca

Elizabeth Bishop introduces herself, telling us about her childhood, education, and early career.

Elizabeth Bishop: Brigitte Baden-Rennie

Narrator: Laure Meloy

Incidental music: Laure Meloy, soprano and Christopher Gould, pianist

Script by Laure Meloy and Brigitte Baden-Rennie

Produced by Femme Lunatique Productions