Production Archives
Misha Penton: soprano, creative director/director, and producer. The Captured Goddess, October 2015, music of Dominick DiOrio.. ravens & radishes, April 2014, music of George Heathco. lyrics, Misha Penton. Selkie, 2013, music of Elliot Cole, libretto, Misha Penton.
Enchant(ed): an experimental poetry / vocal film, created on a stunning Colorado backroad in the deep winter. The work is a meditation on discovering the unexpected and uncanny, and explores one word, “enchant(ed)".
Dialogue entre, an experimental trio. Misha Penton, soprano with the poetry of Baudelaire & Mallarmé (trans. M. Penton). Brent Fariss, double bass. Music devised by Misha Penton and Brent Fariss. Meg Brooker, dancer and choreographer. Premiered at Dancedstry...VIVID Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, Texas.
ravens & radishes. A fairytale operatic song cycle. Misha Penton, soprano, concept, text. George Heathco, music. Meg Brooker, dancer and choreographer. Daniel Saenz, cello. Music video and digital EP release concert.
Klytemnestra, a new chamber opera. Misha Penton, soprano, artistic director, concept and libretto. Music by Dominick Diorio. Meredith Harris, viola. Kyle Evans, piano. Meg Brooker, dancer. Performance premiere at Divergence Vocal Theater 2011, additional performances at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, 2012 and Dallas Museum of Art 2013
Selkie, a sea tale is Elliot’s lush musical setting of fairytale poetry by soprano Misha Penton. Misha Penton, soprano, concept, libretto, director, producer. Music by Elliot Cole. Selkie Premiere Nov 6, 2010. Selkie CD & Music Video Release, March 29 & 30, 2013
A haunted soiree of art music, poetry and dance. Misha Penton: Soprano, artistic direction, production design concept, curation with Alison Greene, soprano. Meg Brooker, dancer. Kelly Switzer: puppeteer. Jon Harvey, actor. George Heathco, composer & electric guitar. Jeremy Wood, piano, and Mini Timmaraju, tabla. October 14, 2011
Evening Star: Beauty Bringer. Art Songs at The Rothko Chapel. Misha Penton, soprano & artistic director, with Alison Greene, soprano, Natasha Manley, soprano, Michael Walsh, baritone and Kyle Evans, piano. June 10, 2011
May Soiree. Performance celebration of the new performance space, Divergence Music & Arts at Spring Street Studios in the Lower Washington Arts District, Houston, Texas. Misha Penton, artistic director and proprietress. Opening of Divergence Music & Arts, May 21, 2011
Voix et Harpe, French art song, poetry and dance. Misha Penton, soprano, concept, artistic director, translations. Meg Brooker, dancer and choreographer. Joanna Elliot Whitsett, harp. Miranda Carol Morris, actor. January 11, 2011 Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Misha Penton, soprano, concept, director. An ethereal eve of contemporary art song in English, piano pieces & harp works; with sitar music and butoh inspired dance; original soliloquies weave through music, multimedia & shadow play. Music of Dominick Argento, Benjamin Britten, Jake Heggie, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Ned Rorem, Lee Hoiby, Samuel Barber, and more. October 2, 2009
Misha Penton, soprano, concept, director. Singers: Alison Greene, Michael Walsh, Shelley Auer, Dennis Arrowsmith, Jill Alexander Essbaum, Eileen. Kade Smith, with Stephen W. Jones, piano. Scenes from the 19th century operas Les Troyens and Sapho, with original poetry and dance. March 20, 2009
Murder and Mayhem in Ancient Rome. Misha Penton, soprano, concept, director. A scorned woman, a love quadrangle, and assassins afoot. A theatrical fusion of scenes from Claudio Monteverdi’s opera, L’incoronazione di Poppeaand the play, Octavia, attributed to Seneca; with piano works of Bach and Rameau. November 15, 2008
Press Archives
"Championing young composers is at the forefront of my practice," Penton says. "One of the ways to do that is not only to perform, but to record their work in different formats. Having both my first recording and my first music video — different manifestations of the same creative output — brings a sense of completeness to this journey." By Joel Luks for CultureMap.
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Misha Penton named Finalist for Best Artistic Director by Houston Press Theater Awards Houston Press Art Attack.
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"Misha Penton, soprano and artistic director of Divergence Vocal Theater, unearthed Isabella's story while ambling through the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston where the 1897 oil on canvass by American painter John White Alexander of Isabella and the Pot of Basil was on view" By Joel Luks for CultureMap Houston.
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"Soprano and DVT's artistic director Misha Penton has achieved what many have difficulty doing: She has trademarked a signature aesthetic in partnership with the participating artists." By Joel Luks for CultureMap Houston.
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"Divergence Music & Arts is Divergence Vocal Theater's new venue in the burgeoning Spring Street Studios in the Lower Washington Cultural Arts District, best described as an inspiring, non-traditional, funky, comfortable, lofty, garage-grungy warehouse studio space for chamber arts, specifically chamber music and chamber opera." By Joel Luks for CultureMap Houston.
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"In Houston, Divergence Vocal Theater broke convention and presented yet another standing-room-only show. Klytemnestra continues DVT's continuum to define the genre of vocal theater...Artistic director Misha Penton rocked the role of the subversive female. Composer Dominick DiOrio's post-modern, yet accessible, style clearly draws inspiration from the past." By Joel Luks for CultureMap Houston.
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"Some claim that classical music is dying. Yes, there is trouble out there...But if you attend one of power femme Misha Penton's performances, her collaborative approach tells a different story." By Joel Luks for CultureMap Houston.
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"Klytemnestra, a collaborative opera dance theater work featuring music by composer Dominick DiOrio, sung text by Misha Penton, spoken text by John Harvey, and choreography by Meg Brooker, is receiving a great deal of positive press in advance of its premier April 15th and 16th at Divergence Music & Arts." By Chris Becker for Sequenza21.
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"Juxtaposing poetry, dance and French music composed or arranged for voice and harp, soprano Misha Penton, harpist Joanna Elliott Whitsett, dancer Meg Booker and actress Miranda Herbert created a deliciously sensual ambiance of refined ecstasy. Misha Penton's interpretation of Reynaldo Hahn's Paysage showed her exquisite and succulent vocal range, technically and artistically." By Joel Luks for CultureMap Houston.
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"The collaborators are Misha’s dream team and secret weapon. The work began with poetry she wrote after seeing a sea lion off the rugged coast of British Columbia. This poetry became the libretto for the work, magnificently set to music by Elliot Cooper Cole. At times the sound was so lush and full, I could hardly believe it was not played by a much larger ensemble. " By MaryBeth Smith, SOMAQuest.
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"There is always something magical about opening night..From the sophisticated socialite to the indie chic, the over-capacity crowd lounged comfortably on velvety floor pillows, mismatched chairs, rockers and loungers, awaiting a musicale that captured the raison d'être of the avant-garde ensemble." By Joel Luks for CultureMap Houston.
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"The entire evening, around the theme “Autumn Spectre,” was one of achingly beautiful sensory demand. The performance defied all traditional expectations of making sense, if you needed a story line, characters, conflict, or moral. However, sense was made in the way love is made, one delicious sensation at a time." By MaryBeth Smith / FELDENKRAIS Houston.
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"A lot of people are doing a lot of things to “save” opera these days – from staging brand-new world premieres the way Houston Grand Opera does almost every season to staging nothing but the oldest, most-proven seat-fillers like Carmen and La Boheme. This new Houston-based troupe led by singer-artistic director Misha Penton finds yet another way, mixing the musical form known as opera with modern dance, poetry and just about anything else that strikes their fancy." By John De Mers for ArtsHouston.
“This past weekend was the second production from new indie performance company, Divergence Vocal Theater. The 10th Muse was a musical, theatrical, poetic meditation on love, heartbreak, and other such manipulations of Eros. Artistic director, Misha Penton, pulled from Berlioz, Gounod, and Boulanger (among others) for music.” By Neil Ellis Orts for Neonuma Arts.
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"Misha Penton, the artistic director of Divergence Vocal Theater, is back to her usual trouble making ways, rethinking the way we see and hear opera. Her newest opus, The 10th Muse, combines scenes and arias from Gounod's opera, Sapho, and Berllioz' Les Troyens."
"Houston’s newest “opera” company, made its debut with The Ottavia Project, Artistic Director Misha Penton’s telling of the story of Octavia, scorned wife of the Roman Emperor Nero, through a fusion of elements from Monteverdi’s opera L’Incoronazione di Poppea. But while these recent productions may harken back to the mists of time, their treatments are thoroughly modern in keeping with Houston’s commitment to the cutting edge.” By St. John Flynn / KUHF Houston NPR
"Just because Claudio Monteverdi wrote his historic L’incoronazione di Poppea in 1642 doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. Not so in the hands of opera renegade Misha Penton, who launched her new multi-disciplinary endeavor, Divergence Vocal Theater, with The Ottavia Project this month at Barnevelder. She’s not kidding about the divergence part; her program note she welcomes the opera police to come drag her away in chains. Penton, a natural troublemaker, is more interested in stirring up questions than providing a neat and tidy package." By Nancy Wozny for Dance Hunter.
"Next weekend, the result of her creativity is Divergence Vocal Theater’s premiere. Music old and new, dance, and literature combine to bring voices and people together in a way that is fresh and compelling. I can’t wait to see what the production, “The Ottavia Project,” will be like. Opera with an edge? Divergence Vocal Theatre is something fresh on Houston’s musical landscape." By MaryBeth Smith / FELDENKRAIS Houston.
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The Medusa Project is a postopera for monodrama for soprano performer-composer (Misha Penton) and mixed media; it is an abstract re-imagining of the Greco-Roman Medusa myth.