We all know the story: A hen on a farm finds a grain of wheat, and decides to turn it into bread. All along the way she asks the other farm animals for help, but they refuse. When the bread is made, however, they all demand a piece of it. Typically, the story ends with the hen refusing to share her bread, keeping the fruits of her labor for herself. In Winell’s retelling, the internal contradictions and battling voices within her take over and wreak havoc upon the whole farm.
The Little Red Hen
libretto & music by Elena Doria Winell*

Recording engineered, produced, mixed, & mastered by Aaron Zimmer

PLAYERS:

Conductor - Jonathan Villegas
Hen - Rose Hegele*
Soprano - Kayleigh Sprouse
Alto - Marjorie Sheiman
Contralto - McKey Monroe*
Tenor - Michael Balsamo
Bass - Rahzé Sinclair
Flute - Eli Gentle
Clarinet - Olivia Harrison
Percussion 1 - Deqi Mu
Percussion 2 - Samuel Hsu
Piano - Daniel Nerger*
Violin 1 - Brian Stuligross*
Violin 2 - Sangwoo Kim
Viola - Daria Dodonova
Cello - Athos Maelstrom*
Bass - Noah Sapp

This premiere was made possible with generous donations from:

Dustyn Geary-Gilman & Kenneth Gilman
Mar Rodriguez & Jodi Milonas
Sonia Gardner & Ken Winell
Kelly Winell
Lily Holliday
Rose Hegele
Cindy Browning
Mary Durante
Terry Holthause
Michael McGuire
Martin Deegan
Bob & Linda Pisciotta
Jamie & Art Lima
Elena Doria Winell

*members of Der Gestanke

The Little Red Hen - Scene One: Who Will Plant the Wheat?

The Little Red Hen - Intermezzo 1: The Wheat is Planted and Grows

The Little Red Hen - Scene Two: Who Will Harvest the Wheat?

The Little Red Hen - Scene Three: Who Will Grind the Wheat?

The Little Red Hen - Intermezzo 2: Baking the Bread

The Little Red Hen - Scene Four: Who Will Eat the Bread?

The Cask of Amontillado by Elena Doria Winell

Libretto adapted from Edgar Allan Poe by H. Cipriana and Elena Doria Winell

Recorded as part of Tony Arnold's Opera Etudes on April 11th, 2025 at Joe Byrd Hall, Peabody Institute, Baltimore, MD.

Conducted by Linus Ip
Audio & Video Recording by Yuchen Bian

CAST:
Montresor - Sophia Sorrentino
Fortunato - Abigail Sherman
"Fortunato" - Sophie Low
Conscience (Good) - Siying Chen
Conscience (Bad) - Ruoyu Li

Chorus - H. Cipriana, Olivia Carlton, Julie Knott, Analeigh Flieger, Erika Carper, Kylee Kamikawa

OLD BAY NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE:
Andrew Nguyen - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
Michael Liu - Percussion
Haeun Lim - Piano
Heeyun Cho - Violin
Claire Russel - Double Bass

SYNOPSIS: In this short adaptation of Poe’s classic tale, the story unfolds with Montresor’s conscience taking on two tangible, disembodied forms, constantly whispering and conversing with him as he lures Fortunato deeper into the catacombs. As Montresor's dark plan unfolds, his inner guilt and turmoil begin to manifest through a haunting dialogue between him and his conscience, which taunts and questions his actions. After Montresor seals Fortunato’s fate, the opera takes a twisted turn: Fortunato’s voice transforms into a demonic, mocking echo, joined by a chorus of spectral voices. These voices, a blend of Fortunato's tortured spirit and Montresor’s fractured psyche, berate and taunt Montresor for his crime. The conscience now merges with the cacophony of demonic voices, amplifying his paranoia and guilt. The opera explores Montresor’s descent into madness, blurring the lines between his own voice, Fortunato’s ghost, and the eerie chorus, which relentlessly drives him to the brink of insanity, akin to the themes in Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat. The haunting sounds culminate in Montresor’s complete unraveling, as he is consumed by the very guilt he tried to bury, forever tormented by the consequences of his actions.

The Cask of Amontillado

scraps for loadbang by Elena Doria Winell, text by Emily Dickinson. Performed at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Baltimore, MD on April 29th, 2025

Ty Bouque - baritone
Andy Kozar - Trumpet
Adrián Sandí - Bass Clarinet
William Lang - Trombone

This piece is about fragmentation. The poem is taken from Dickinson's collection of "envelope poems" which were literally scrawled in dull pencil on various scraps of papers and envelopes. Like most of her work, these poems did not see the light of day until after her death. The brief interjection comes from what began as my attempt at 'modernizing' the language of the poem, only retroactively realizing a) how pointless that is and b) how intensely I had projected my own immediate reality into this 'translation.'

scraps

Largo from Violin Concerto in F Minor ("Winter") by Antonio Vivaldi (c. 1716)

Amateur guitarist based in Boston. All tracks are my own recordings and may not be used without permission. Please listen with headphones for optimal sound quality. Enjoy!

Equipment:
Cordoba C-12 Spruce Classical Guitar (2018–present)
Rodriguez FC Cedar Classical Guitar (2014–18)
Tascam DP-008EX Recording Device (2016–present)

Largo from Violin Concerto in F Minor ("Winter") by Antonio Vivaldi (c. 1716)

Mark McDonnell