The No One’s Rose
The No One’s Rose is an evening-length work of music theater created by AMOC (American Modern Opera Company), featuring original music by Matthew Aucoin. It was commissioned by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Stanford Live, and had its premiere in August 2021 at Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University. The production was directed by Zack Winokur and choreographed by Bobbi Jene Smith.
The work changed radically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aucoin originally conceived The No One’s Rose as a juxtaposition of Bach’s cantatas, with their intense spiritual fervor and certainty, with new music set to the post-apocalyptic skepticism of Paul Celan’s poetry. But when the pandemic caused the premiere to be postponed by a year, AMOC’s artists decided to transform The No One’s Rose into a collective reflection on catastrophe and recovery, featuring personal recollections by the company’s artists.
Aucoin’s music for The No One’s Rose includes settings of poetry by Paul Celan and Jorie Graham. The work also features original music and text by Keir GoGwilt.