THE FACTOTUM Opera-Movie (Liverman) Chicago IL 2023 Will Liverman, Martin Luther Clark, Cecilia Violetta López, Norman Garrett
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Information on the Performance
- Work Title: The Facctotum
- Composer: Liverman Will, DJ King Rico
- Libretto: Liverman Will, DJ King Rico, Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj
- Venue & Opera Company: Chicago Illinois
- Recorded: 2023
- Type: Movie
- Singers: Will Liverman, Martin Luther Clark, Cecilia Violetta López, Norman Garrett, Melody Betts, Nissi Shalome, Symone Harcum, Lunga Eric Hallam. Terrence Chin-Loy, Adam Richardson, Ron Dukes, Di'Aire Wilson
- Conductor: Kedrick Armstrong
- Orchestra:
- Choreographer: Maleek Washington
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Lyric Opera of Chicago
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: mail.ru FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
The Factotum celebrates Black joy, merges influences, and widens our view of what opera can be.
Like its title derived from Latin (fac: to do, to make; and totum: everything), The Factotum is an opera that crosses many traditional boundaries. It also brings together many previously unconnected things. The co-creators who made this “everything” opera are Will Liverman and Rocket Jackson, two artists who grew up knowing each other at the Governor’s School for the Arts in Virginia when they were voice students studying opera and music in high school. While Liverman stayed with opera, Jackson moved into jazz, hip hop, and production to become DJ King Rico. Both got their early music exposure in the Black church, primarily through gospel. Given their musical fluency, it is not surprising that The Factotum comprises a wide range of musical styles — almost a little of everything from gospel, barbershop quartet, R&B, and jazz to funk, hip hop, and trap.
The title character in Rossini’s Barber of Seville became a signature role early in Liverman’s career. While performing Figaro in different opera houses across the country, Liverman recounts, “what sparked the idea” for Factotum was “every time, no matter where you go on a gig, you’ve got to find the Black barbershop in town.” Chicago as the setting made sense; as an alumnus of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center program, it is a place Liverman knows well.
Quote from Lyric Opera of Chicago