The groundbreaking project makes its way to American Academy in Rome with its message of justice, resilience and the power of breath.
The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist was born from the vibrant collaboration between Dartmouth Professor of Studio Art Enrico Riley and Stanford Professor of Music Jonathan Berger during their Rome Prize Residency at the American Academy in 2017. Now, following its world premiere at Dartmouth in 2022 and performances at Stanford Live, California (2022) and Lincoln Center, New York City (2024), the opera crosses the ocean once again and returns to its place of origin with a presentation and activation workshop.
Rome Event Info Event Playbill
Presentation
Feb 19
In celebration of Black History Month 2025, the Hop and the American Academy in Rome collaborate to host a screening of Ritual of Breath to an audience of scholars and activists from the Coordinamento Antirazzista Italiano—the Italian Anti-Racist Movement—working to address cases of state-sanctioned violence in Italy. Music, text, projected visuals and movement interweave in a story centered on Garner's daughter, Erica. Uplifted by a choir of singers the contemporary opera invites audiences to breathe and keep breathing any way we can.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the creative team behind Ritual of Breath.
Activation Workshop
Feb 20
This activation and ritual related to The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist features a screening of Her Fight, His Name: The Story of Gwen Carr and Eric Garner (2024), a documentary that chronicles Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner whose 2014 death at the hands of the NYPD sparked the Black Lives Matter movement. The event will foster an exchange between the US and Italy on examining systemic injustice. The screening will be followed by an interactive workshop, led by the creators of Ritual of Breath, inviting participants to join in community to respond to the wanton killings of Black people and to find healing with each other, using music, words and art.
The workshop will conclude with a salon-style sharing. Participants are invited to bring their own work, compositions, and other expressions of resistance and healing.
Presented by the American Academy in Rome.
