Abbie  Conant and William Osborne

You are cordially invited to our music theater performance of

“Aletheia”

Abbie Conant: singer/actress/instrumentalist, and text
William Osborne: Composition, text, direction

7:30 PM – Sunday, October 27, 2024
114 Los Pandos, Taos NM
(Parking at Smiths, then walk about 100 yards up Los Pandos.)

The performance is free, no admission charge. All are welcome.

The word “Aletheia” is one of several ancient Greek words for truth and roughly means “creating a space where truth can appear.” Aletheia is an opera singer who is delighted that she has been asked to perform for an opera gala. She only needs to go down to the courtyard and impress the people with her performance…but she reconsiders, desperate…should she really sing? Why won’t her feet move? Does she not know that she lives in a cage in the form of an iron maiden?

She prepares, puts on her makeup, looks out the window and observes the wealthy patrons, and comments on what she sees. But in the ruins of Detroit the opera house in the middle of the city has been neglected, everything has completely collapsed, a grand piano lies tipped over on its side like a dead whale. Aletheia asks herself if her heart can survive. She tries to telephone Jeremy, a former lover? No answer. She speaks with him anyway…talk to me… She plays an instrument that stands at the side of her cage. She is alone…or? She hears a women’s choir… Madness? Hope? Death? Truth? Hope that her song can revive the rusting city? Will she find the music that brings her transcendence?

A Slide Show of Aletheia Photos

Abbie and William have performed their music theater works in over 200 cities in the USA and Europe. Two doctoral dissertations have been written about their music theater and multimedia works, one by Dr. Jesús Fernando Lloret González at the University of Málaga, Spain, and one by Dr. Jessica D. Butler at the University of Iowa. Their European venues have included the Munich Biennale, The Stuttgarter Tage für Neue Musik, The Hamburg State Opera, The Bavarian State Opera, The Freiburg Theater Festival, The State Theater of Kassel, Frankfurt’s Theater am Turm, Munich’s Gasteig Cultrual Center, and Nuovo Forme Sonare in Rome. They have performed and given master classes at most of America’s major music schools including The Juilliard School, The New England Conservatory, Yale University, The Eastman School of Music, Oberlin, The Peabody Conservatory, Indiana University, The San Francisco Conservatory, Cal Arts, McGill, the University of California at Berkley, Ithaca College, and the University of Texas.

The story of Abbie’s 13 year-long struggle and ultimate victory against egregious gender discrimination in the Munich Philharmonic inspired writings in print publications ranging from The Washington Post to the The Wall Street Journal. It was also the inspiration for Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink which was on the NYT Bestseller List for 18 weeks. Her story was also presented in a ninety minute documentary film broadcast nationally on German national television.

Abbie attended the Interlochen Arts Academy for three years before then receiving her B.M. cum laude at Temple University, and her master’s degree at Juilliard. She has adjudicated most of the world’s most famous trombone competitions such as the Geneva Competition, the Porcia Italy Competition, the Munich ARD Competition, and the Moscow Conservatory Tchaikovsky Competition. Abbie has students in many orchestras and teaching positions including the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, the Stuttgart State Opera, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
William was born and raised in New Mexico where his great grandparents homesteaded before New Mexico became a state. After studying in Philadelphia and New York City, he travelled to Rome where he was given a full scholarship to the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (the National Music Academy of Italy.) He has received two ASCAP awards, a Doctoral Fellowship to Columbia University with full tuition and a monthly stipend with no work requirements, alternate to the American Rome Prize, and a major prize from the Theater Commission of the City of Munich for his Beckett productions.

William has also written numerous scholarly articles about women in music, music sociology and philosophical/theoretical concepts. His article "Sounding the Abyss of Otherness: Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening and the Sonic Meditations is published in Women Making Art (New York: Lang 2000.) His article “Art Is Just An Excuse: Gender Bias In International Orchestras” was published in the Journal of the International Alliance for Women In Music, where it initiated international protests against the Vienna Philharmonic and worldwide press coverage including reports on NPR, an interview of William on ABC’s Good Morning America, and front page articles on both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. His article “Symphony Orchestras and Artist-Prophets: Cultural Isomorphism and the Allocation of Power in Music” was published in Leonardo Music Journal—a joint venture of the International Society for Art, Science and Technology and the M.I.T. Press. In 1998 he was given a Special Recognition Award by the International Alliance for Women in Music for his services to women in music.

For much more info about Aletheia click here.