Join us Sunday, November 12th at noon inside the Old Stone House’s Great Room.
Author Kathleen E. Watt in conversation with Dramaturg Cori Ellison re: Rearranged: An Opera Singer’s Facial Cancer and Life Transposed.
$47 tickets includes book, bagels and lox brunch, and unlimited mimosas!
Tickets on Eventbrite
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Former opera singer and debut author Kathleen Watt will discuss her new memoir Rearranged: An Opera Singer’s Facial Cancer and Life Transposed (Heliotrope Books, October 10, 2023) with dramaturg Cori Ellison. Kathleen was a New York opera singer at mid-career, with a steady, lucrative chorus job at the Metropolitan Opera and solo gigs elsewhere, anticipating her best year ever. Instead, a vicious bone cancer blew her plans to smithereens, along with her face. Unflinching, masterful, and infused with a wry humor, Kathleen Watt probes the depths of the physical and emotional transformations wrought by facial cancer. Not a depressing cancer memoir, but a comedic exploration of her medical experiences and a joyous ode to a life remade. “A heartrending journey recalled with lucidity and poise. — KIRKUS REVIEWS
The event includes a bagels and lox brunch, coffee, and unlimited mimosas.
All attendees will receive a copy of the book.
Kathleen Watt, trained in illustration and painting, moved to Manhattan to become a professional opera singer. For years, she enjoyed the privilege of singing some of the world’s greatest music as a principal soloist, and for a few seasons with the extra chorus of New York’s Metropolitan Opera Company. She was still peddling high C’s when bone cancer settled in behind her cheek. So began her greatest and least anticipated adventure, the subject of her new memoir Rearranged: An Opera Singer’s Facial Cancer and Life Transposed. Pivoting yet again, Watt discovered another perfectly good voice and became a feature writer. Now she tries to bring a wide-angle lens to everything she writes about the arts, news or culture, and as aways, the glorious human parade.
Cori Ellison, a leading creative figure in the opera world, has served as staff Dramaturg at Santa Fe Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, and New York City Opera. A founding faculty member of American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program, she has developed new operatic works for Icelandic Opera, Canadian Opera, Norwegian Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Chicago Opera Theater, Arizona Opera, Opera Birmingham, Pittsburgh Opera, and Beth Morrison Projects. She has served as production dramaturg at Salzburg Landestheater, Washington National Opera, Cincinnati Opera, National Sawdust, Opera Boston, and Bard Summerscape. She creates supertitles for opera companies worldwide, and helped launch Met Titles, the Met’s simultaneous translation system. A faculty member at The Juilliard School’s Vocal Arts Institute and the Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers, she also works with singers at young artist programs and conservatories worldwide. Her English singing translations include Hansel and Gretel (NYCO), La vestale (English National Opera) and Shostakovich’s Cherry Tree Towers (Bard Summerscape).
Brooklyn Social Media brings a human and tech savvy approach to publicity and promotion. Founded in 2012 by acclaimed blogger Louise Crawford, and joined by Linda Quigley in 2015, BSM is an enthusiastic advocate for people and projects they believe in. BSM begins with strategic and creative thinking, and then develops eloquent and eye-catching press materials. BSM pitches tirelessly on behalf of authors to get the word out to reviewers, journalists, editors, influencers, podcasters, bloggers, and bookstagrammers. We also pitch awards and US festivals, and bookstores and other venues for events. BSM works with one of the best website designers in the business, who also designs social media graphics for posting and advertising. BSM is truly a one-stop shop for authors’ book publicity needs.
