Founding Artistic Director Joan Schirle and composer Gina Leishman will spend the year working on a new chamber opera, “Bird of the Inner Eye,” based on the letters of painter Morris Graves. In June 2020, DAI will present work-in-progress showings, with a cast of local singers and musicians. The development of “Bird of the Inner Eye” received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Schirle has been working on the Graves letters for the last two years, and in November 2018 presented 3 public readings with Dell’Arte artists. Both Joan and Gina were awarded residencies at the Morris Graves Foundation in Loleta, CA. OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program provides financial assistance to identify support and help develop the work of female composers writing for the operatic medium, raising their visibility and promoting awareness of their compositions to the field. Funding for this program is provided by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Program for Commissioning Women in the Performing Arts. Follow the project at Bird of the Inner Eye opera
