In the summer of 2021, the community of artists at the BRDG Project Gallery in Denver gathered to hear opera arias and ensembles performed by Kira Dills-DeSurra (Mezzo-Soprano), Leah Podzimek (Soprano), and Jessica Nilles Kressin (Piano). They not only listened to the music, but heard about the context of the pieces within their full operatic works, the background of the operas and the composers, and more.
One month later, they delivered completed, new works of art to the gallery. Over 30 individual artists, working in their chosen medium and their own style, had internalized the emotion of the performance and expressed it in a piece of visual art.
The project, dubbed Interplay, was so successful that it is traveling throughout the state of Colorado.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS - Summer 2023
presented by Opera Steamboat
BASALT - 2022-23
presented by The Arts Campus at Willits
in partnership with Artbase
TELLURIDE - Summer 2022
presented by Telluride Arts and Original Thinkers Festival
DENVER - Fall 2021
in partnership wtih The BRDG Project
what the press is saying…
“Through a new musical art collaboration about love and death, BRDG Project aims to build bridges between opera, art and audience” - Denverite, October 2021 (Denver)
“How a Denver-based singer is trying to connect new audiences to opera” - Colorado Sun, September 2022 (Telluride)
“TACAW presents the kick-off to ‘Interplay: Art and Opera’ on Saturday” - Aspen Daily News, October 2022 (Basalt)
The Performing Artists
Leah Podzimek, Soprano
Jessica Nilles Kressin, Piano
Kira Dills-DeSurra, Mezzo Soprano
Soprano Leah Podzimek is a versatile performer based in Denver. Her voice has been hailed as “opulent and rich”, with a particular temerity suited for Italian operatic literature.
Ms. Podzimek is dedicated to performing the canon of operatic literature as well as new works, and is a member of the Playground Ensemble, the Rocky Mountain region’s premiere new music ensemble. With the Playground she has performed four world premiere chamber works in 2022, and will premiere Nathan Hall’s new opera “Atlas of Remote Islands” in 2023. She has most recently been seen on stage as Second Lady (The Magic Flute) with Opera Fort Collins and Princess Dora (The Three Feathers) with Opera Steamboat.
Leah received her BM in Voice Performance from Wartburg College and MA at Goldsmiths, University of London. She currently studies with Alexandra LoBianco.
Jessica Nilles Kressin, a native of Webster City, Iowa, did her doctoral work in Piano Performance at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Collaborative performances have been an important addition to Jessica’s musicianship. She has performed with many instrumentalists and singers, including Simon Estes, with whom she performed at the White House and in his “Roots & Wings” tour across the state of Iowa. In 2018, Jessica performed at Red Rocks Amphitheatre with other Wartburg faculty. Currently she is part of Duo Azure with soprano Ekaterina Kotcherguina, with whom she competed in Lyon, France in the Concours international de musique de chambre de Lyon.
She has extensive experience as an opera rehearsal pianist and coach, currently serving as music director and pianist at Breaking Glass Arts, a small immersive opera company based in Denver. Nilles Kressin frequently collaborates with singers at Opera on Tap events around the Denver area as well.
Kira Dills-DeSurra is a vibrant American mezzo-soprano whose magnetic stage presence communicates effortless charm and truth. Hailed as a nuanced singer and talented comedic stage actress (San Diego Union-Tribune) Kira cultivates skills in musical improvisation and circus arts as part of her broad-ranging palate of storytelling tools. She is champion of new and rarely performed works and has appeared in many American premieres. She also cultivates skills in musical improvisation and circus arts as part of her broad-ranging palate of storytelling tools.
The Visual Artists
Denver
Eric Anderson
Tya A. Anthony
Dana Barak
Matthew Bollinger
Kristina Davies
Margaret DeKoven
Michael Dowling
Gregory Forber
Brett Fox
Taylor Herzog
Peggy Feliot Jensen
Rochelle Johnson
Joey Kerlin
Xencs LittleWing
Frank Lucero
Claire McArdle
Scott McCormick
Steven Morrell
Jared David Paul
Davie Seiler
Jen Starling
Brenda Stumpf
Gianna Tesone
Eriko Tsogo
Michael Vacchiano
Telluride
Jonathan Bailey
Kathy Green
Daniel Kanow
Brittany Miller
Molly Perrault-Daniel
Margaret Rinkevich
Fran Windsor
Basalt
Tania Dibbs
Staci Dickerson
Chris Erickson
Gail Folwell
Wally Graham
Deb Jones
Wewer Keohane
Nancy Lovendahl
Ingrid Magidson
Summers Moore
Trace Nichols
Nori Pao
Erin Rigney
Andrew Roberts-Gray
Jay Phillips