O.A. Conference Pitch Session Materials
This page contains supplemental materials for three operas:
- The Canticle of the Black Madonna
- Tango of the White Gardenia
- Dreams Have No Borders
The Canticle of the Black Madonna

Called “generous, carefully crafted and supremely compassionate” by The Oregonian, The Canticle of the Black Madonna is a new opera by composer Ethan Gans-Morse and librettist Tiziana DellaRovere and which was workshopped at the University of Oregon in 2013 and produced and premiered in Portland, Oregon by Anima Mundi Productions on September 5, 2014.
FOUR-MINUTE VIDEO ON VIMEO:
Tango of the White Gardenia

Tango of the White Gardenia is a new tango-infused chamber opera by composer Ethan Gans-Morse and librettist Tiziana DellaRovere. It was commissioned by Cascadia Chamber Opera, produced in collaboration with Anima Mundi Productions, and premiered in the fall of 2018 in Eugene and four other Oregon towns. Below, please find a fact sheet, score, and audio sample:
AUDIO CLIP ON SOUNDCLOUD:
“…[Tango of the White Gardenia] will travel to places that usually don’t see much live opera, [and] I hope it also eventually goes to middle and high schools to reach young people. Its messages are loud and clear and humane, and the art is fine enough to carry them. We need compassion, not competition when it comes to relationships. Not only can Tango of the White Gardenia turn people onto the sometimes-alienating ancient art form of opera, it also suggests that we can become better people.”
~Angela Allen, Oregon ArtsWatch opera critic
Dreams Have No Borders

Dreams Have No Borders is a new chamber opera by composer Ethan Gans-Morse and librettist Tiziana DellaRovere. The product of over a year of research and interviews conducted with numerous real-life migrants, it tells the timely story of a young mother’s harrowing journey to create a better life for herself as she flees the threat of violence in Mexico to join her sister in the USA. This piece was commissioned by Anima Mundi Productions. It premieres in a lightly staged version in Ashland, Oregon on April 26, 2020.
Cover artwork by Poli Marichal. Used by permission.