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The Fortissima Collective
The Fortissima Collective (FF Collective) is a women-led and -founded performing arts and music collective in San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles, providing choral, opera, pop, jazz, caroling and solo concerts.
*Programming and artists subject to change, please refer to the participating organization’s calendar listing for the most up-to-date program.
Events
California Festival
Artonic Quartet is thrilled to partner with Soprano Tasha Koontz, FF Collective, and the University of San Diego to present a program premiering music from The Schemes and Scandals of "Fat Leonard" Francis.
Experience modern sonic storytelling with this dramatic ensemble composed of Artonic Quartet, made up of San Diego Symphony members, joined by soprano Tasha Koontz, featuring music by Caroline Shaw, John Adams, and San Diego's own Tommy Dougherty. Each piece on the program has its own tale to tell, including the world premiere of music from Dougherty's Schemes and Scandals of Fat Leonard, based on a true story of epic bribery and blackmail aimed at the U.S. Navy, and selections from Evergreen, the newest classical album from Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw where the singer improvises fresh melodies.
Piece(s)/Composer(s)
SELECTION FROM JOHN'S BOOK OF ALLEGED DANCES
John ADAMS
TWO SONGS: "AND SO", "OTHER SONG" FOR STRING QUARTER AND VOICE
Caroline SHAW
BLUEPRINT
Caroline SHAW
QUARTET SATZ
Phillip GLASS
THE SCHEMES AND SCANDALS OF FAT LEONARD (WORLD PREMIERE)
Tommy DOUGHERTY
Program Notes
"In 2013, Malaysian military contractor Leonard Glenn Francis (known as “Fat Leonard”) was arrested in San Diego in an NCIS raid after years of maintaining control of the U.S. Navy’s massive Seventh Fleet. At his hands, the Navy—a pillar of the American understanding of honor— had fallen prey to unthinkable corruption and the largest military security breach since the Cold War. Schemes and Scandals unearths the unheard female voices buried in the rubble of the far-reaching but largely under-publicized scandal to ask what is left when “honor,” patriotism, and the men who cling to them crumble.
The program will also include a pre-concert informational session with Robert Gonzales, the world's leading ""Fat Leonard"" scholar, and additional works by living composers including Caroline Shaw and John Adams."