The Laurel Project
Discussion & Music with composer Jocelyn Hagen
Blood Money: The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes
Monday, April 13, 12:00pm
Performing Arts Center
Helen Yunker Auditorium
4700 Loma Vista Rd.
Ventura CA 93003
Composer Jocelyn Hagen joins us to discuss her commission with Ventura College Opera: a new opera exploring the story of Elizabeth Holmes, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur whose company Theranos claimed to revolutionize blood testing and whose fraud made her one of the most documented figures of recent years — the subject of the HBO documentary The Inventor, the Hulu series The Dropout, and multiple books and podcasts. Hagen is known for works including The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, (a multimedia symphony), Test Pilot, (a dance opera collaboration with choreographer Penelope Freeh), and her opera The Song Poet. In this program, she will talk about how an opera actually gets made: how a librettist and composer shape a story together, and build a musical language capable of carrying dramatic weight across an entire evening. The event will also include live performances of her music.
Presented as part of The Laurel Project: Faculty & Guest Artist Concert Series
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Jocelyn Hagen composes music that has been described as "simply magical" (Fanfare Magazine) and "dramatic and deeply moving" (Star Tribune). A pioneer in her field, she pushes the expectations of musicians and audiences with large-scale multimedia works, electro-acoustic music, dance, and opera. The majority of her compositions are for the voice — solo, chamber, and choral — and her melodic music is rhythmically driven, texturally complex, and deeply heartfelt.
In 2019 she premiered her multimedia symphony The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, combining choir, orchestra, and film with video projections highlighting da Vinci's drawings, inventions, and texts. The work has been performed over fifty times across the United States and internationally. Her dance opera Test Pilot received the 2017 American Prize in the opera division and a Sage Award for Outstanding Design. Her second opera The Song Poet, the first Hmong story brought to the operatic stage, was commissioned by Minnesota Opera in 2023 and sold out six months before its premiere.
As an advocate for gender equality in music, Hagen founded Compose Like A Girl, an initiative that amplifies female-identifying composers, helps conductors diversify their programming, and provides mentorship to emerging women composers. She is also one half of Nation, an a cappella duo with composer Timothy C. Takach, and together they perform and serve as clinicians for choirs worldwide.
For complete bio, please visit: www.jocelynhagen.com
