Number Our Days: A Photographic Oratorio

Ty Defoe (Giizhig) (he/we) is an Indigiqueer citizen of Oneida and Anishinaabe Nations. As a Grammy Award®-winning interdisciplinary artist, Ty uses theater as a tool to weave messages of liberation, healing, and cultural shifting. Credits include directing TUTS’s production of Rent, choreographing 1491s Between Two Knees, and performing on Broadway in Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men. Some recent writing works include For the People (co-written by Larissa FastHorse), and, Ajijaak on Turtle Island. Select residencies/fellowships/awards: The Kennedy Center’s Next 50, Helen Merrill Playwrighting Award, Robert Rauschenberg Artist in Residence, MacDowell, Jonathan Larson, TransLab, and Sundance fellow. Ty’s work has been presented at: Guthrie Theater, The Public Theater, OSF, Yale Rep, The Park Avenue Armory, and Syracuse Stage. Ty is a member of All My Relations Collective and DG, AEA, ASCAP, SDC. Co-founder of Indigenous Direction and professor of practice at ASU Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. www.allmyrelations.earth/present & www.tydefoe.com

Photo courtesy of Ty Defoe.

Kamna Gupta is an American Prize-winning conductor experienced in operatic, orchestral, and choral repertoires.

An acclaimed documentary filmmaker for more than three decades, David Van Taylor is thrilled to debut as a librettist in PAC NYC’s inaugural season. David’s documentary A Perfect Candidate topped IndieWire’s “Best Political Films of the Past 20 Years,” and the San Francisco Chronicle deemed his Good Ol’ Charles Schulz, “like Peanuts, a great example of minimalist art.” He co-created several nonfiction series including the religious-right history With God on Our Side and (with his late wife Ali Pomeroy) the pioneering docusoap Local News. Supported by the NEA, the NEH, and the Ford, MacArthur, and Warhol Foundations, David’s work has screened around the world from the Berlinale to Film Forum. His kudos include a duPont-Columbia Silver Baton and a Guggenheim Fellowship. David has three brilliant children and lives in Brooklyn with his wife, psychotherapist Amy Rosenthal. A friend of Jamie Livingston’s, David appears in several Photos of the Day.

Photo by Ian Vollmer.

Award-winning composer Luna Pearl Woolf has long used her evocative creative voice to advocate for social and political change. Her music has been praised as “brilliant … profoundly moving” (Opera Going Toronto) for its “psychological nuances and emotional depth” (New York Times). Her dramatic works are championed by major opera houses and international performing artists. Fire and Flood, an album spanning Woolf’s work over several decades, grappling with climate change, poverty, zealotry and more, was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award®. Her recent opera, Jacqueline, with librettist Royce Vavrek, about legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré, garnered five Dora Award nominations and a win at its 2020 premiere. The Globe and Mail called it an “extraordinary piece … that deserves an unquestioned place in the 21st-century canon.” Woolf mentors new opera creators with Montreal’s Musique 3 Femmes and other organizations. She is co-founder of Oxingale, a ground-breaking record label and music publisher supporting new music by extraordinary composers.

Photo by szetoshoots.

Countertenor John Holiday has performed at world-renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and the Philharmonie de Paris. Holiday begins the 2023-24 season as a featured soloist with the Handel and Haydn Society in Handel’s Messiah, before returning to the Dutch National Opera for Handel’s Agrippina. Holiday then joins the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater before reprising his roles in the restaging of Kevin Puts’ The Hours at the Metropolitan Opera. Holiday finishes the season as Prince Go-Go in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at Bayerische Staatsoper, in addition to appearing in recitals across the US.

Peerless interpreters of both early and new music, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street has redefined 21st-century vocal music, breaking new ground with artistry described as “blazing with vigour…a choir from heaven” (The Times, London). This premier professional ensemble can be heard live, online, and on several Grammy®-nominated recordings. The choir has collaborated with numerous living composers and recorded Pulitzer Prize-winning works, including Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone, Ellen Reid’s prism and Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields.

The “expert and versatile musicians” (New Yorker) of NOVUS NY are key players and collaborators in the new music scene. NOVUS NY has helped pioneer several major new works in performances and recordings, including Trevor Weston Choral Works, Elena Ruehr: Averno, Paola Prestini’s The Hubble Cantata, David T. Little’s Am I Born, Luna Pearl Woolf’s Grammy©-nominated Fire and Flood, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning operas Angel’s Bone by Du Yun and prism by Ellen Reid.

Trinity Youth Chorus provides musical leadership at Trinity Church and performs a variety of concerts, often alongside The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Trinity Baroque Orchestra and NOVUS NY. Featured in the films Love is Strange and Doubt, Lisa Bielawa’s made-for-TV opera Vireo, CBS’s The Early Show, recordings of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 5, and Lisa Bielawa’s My Outstretched Hand, the chorus has also sung with the Rolling Stones, Bobby McFerrin, and Josh Groban.

Praised by The New York Times for its “incisive, agile strength,” Downtown Voices is Trinity Church Wall Street’s semiprofessional choir. Conducted by Stephen Sands, it has performed works by Beethoven, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Pärt, Webern, Ginastera, Janáček, and Gjeilo, and recorded works by Philip Glass and the world premiere of Benedict Sheehan’s oratorio Akathist, alongside The Choir of Trinity Wall Street and NOVUS NY. The choir made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2022 with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta.

Claire Karoff is a scenic designer based in New York City. With work ranging from experiential events to interior design, her specialty lies in creating immersive theatrical environments. She has worked with Punchdrunk Global since 2011 and was the head of design at the McKittrick Hotel, home of Sleep No More. Recent credits include Dead Letter No. 9, a new immersive “conversation parlor” produced by Roll the Bones.

Broadway: The Thanksgiving Play. Off-Broadway/NY: Between Two Knees (PAC NYC); Manahatta, Mobile Unit: The Comedy of Errors (The Public Theater); On That Day in Amsterdam (Primary Stages); 53% Of (Second Stage Uptown); Songs About Trains (New Ohio Theatre); Eureka Day (Colt Coeur). Regional: For the People (Guthrie Theater); The Wizard of Oz (Geva Theatre); Between Two Knees (OSF, Yale Rep, McCarter, Seattle Rep); Espejos: Clean (Hartford Stage, Syracuse Stage); LEAR (Cal Shakes); I and You, Annapurna (Syracuse Stage). MFA: NYU/Tisch @luxhaac luxhaac.com

Brian Tovar is a Drama Desk-nominated lighting designer who has created original work for major Off-Broadway and regional theaters. His body of work spans theater, dance, installations, live events, and music, including recent and upcoming projects with Sam Smith and Mariah Carey. Brian has developed and collaborated on multiple groundbreaking and award-winning live experiences, earning multiple Clio Awards. He is a frequent collaborator with the City of New York and has designed multiple art installations across the city. BrianTovarDesign.com. On social media @tovarbri (Instagram)

A proud son of immigrant parents, Germán Martínez is a Honduran-American based in NYC/NJ. Germán is a Montclair State University alum (2018), holding a degree in theatrical production and design with a concentration in sound. He has worked at: Northern Stages, Ogunquit Playhouse, American Stages, Northern Stages, Intar Theatre, 59E59, TheaterWorks Hartford, Women’s Project, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Playhouse 46, MCC, American Repertory Theatre, Repertorio Español, GALA Hispanic, George Street Playhouse, Two River Theater, and Trinity Rep. Broadway credits include: Into The Woods (St. James Theatre); The Piano Lesson (Barrymore Theatre); and Ohio State Murders (James Earl Jones Theatre). Instagram: @GermanTheSoundDesigner

Katherine Freer (she/her) is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, researcher and educator whose artistic practice lives at the intersection of story, technology and civic engagement. Frequent collaborators include Kamilah Forbes, Ping Chong, Ty Defoe, Steve H. Broadnax III, Jonathan McCrory, Sarah Rasmussen, Talvin Wilks and Tamilla Woodard. She is a proud member of All My Relations Collective (Core Collaborator), The Team (Team Artist), Wingspace Theatrical Design (Executive Committee), USA829 (Projection Design Committee Co-Chair). www.katherinefreer.com

Recent opera/oratorio: Emigré (NY Philharmonic); Adriana Mater (San Francisco Symphony); Perle Noire (Dutch National Opera); Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) (Park Avenue Armory); Omar (Spoleto USA); Requiem (the Shed); Idomeneo (Salzburg Festival); Glass Handel (Opera Philadelphia). Numerous productions at Bam and New York City Opera. Dance: Pam Tanowitz Dance, Trisha Brown Dance Company, New York City Ballet. Concerts: Interim Production Manager, Carnegie Hall. She is a graduate of Smith College.

Sam is a NYC-based stage manager, event manager, and show producer. He is thrilled to be making his PAC NYC debut. Sam’s recent credits include Broadway: Summer, 1976; Off-Broadway: Translations (Irish Repertory Theatre). New York Philharmonic: Emigré (US Premiere) and Orchestrating Maestro with Bradley Cooper. Alum of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and The Juilliard School Professional Apprentice Program. Thank you to the PAC NYC team, Betsy, and all of the stage management. @_im_sam_