Silver Finch Arts Collective, featuring vibrant new voices in the Washington, DC music and theatre scenes, is excited to present The Lives Left Behind. This collection of short pieces celebrates the operatic tradition while also telling fresh, new stories that speak to this moment in time.

One of the important missions of the Silver Finch Arts Collective is to make sure that any art that we produce is accessible. Opera is often seen as a less accessible art form. We’re hoping to prove otherwise with our production this summer.  We are proud to partner with the Capital Fringe Festival is because it provides an outlet for opera in a much more cost-effective environment than many more traditional presenting venues. But, more importantly, what we seek to do with this art form is provide a cultural outlet for both artists and audience members to experience opera in a new and accessible way, while still paying respect to its traditional roots. 

We're passionate about presenting opera in an intimate setting. These four operas, by four different young composers, have an aggregate cast of six singers, a pit orchestra of four musicians, and will be in a small enough venue that the audience will connected to the story. That connection, too, will be felt through the subject matter of the four operas: all four works tackle present-day issues through a wide variety of settings and circumstances. 

Silver Finch strives to include collaboration in as many steps of the creative process as possible. This flow of ideas from many different viewpoints helps us ensure that we are sharing art that has a broad appeal without compromising the integrity of its message. The librettists, composers, designers, singers, and instrumentalists, all organized on the stage by director Corinne Hayes, are experts at connecting the audience to the narrative through dynamic and powerful storytelling. 

The Lives Left Behind's $5000 budget is not going to lavish sets or costumes. While those can be great in any theater production, we feel that our budget can be best put to use paying our talented cast, orchestra, and artistic crew. We are strong believers that artists should be paid for their work. Our cast, pit orchestra, and artistic crew have many degrees in their fields of study and have logged countless hours of practice and creative work. With your support, we are proud to fund all of our performers, technicians, and artistic staff to the fullest extent possible.

The Lives Left Behind is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non­profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of The Lives Left Behind must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only. Any contribution above the value of the goods and services received by the donor is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.