Reflection & Re-Vision: Misled Transformation of a Heroine

Join guest lecturer Dr. Michael Mohammed on an examination of La traviata through the main character Violetta Valéry and learn how she not only transforms herself but also is transformed by the environment surrounding her.

About Dr. Michael Mohammed

Michael Mohammed works throughout the US and Canada as a stage director and choreographer. Recently, he co-created What's Known To Me Is Endless with baritone Kenneth Overton and pianist Rich Coburn for the inaugural season of Amplified Opera, a Toronto based company that places equity-seeking artists at the center of public discourse. Additional directing and choreography work includes Le nozze di Figaro, Carmen, Candide, I Pagliacci, and X: The Life & Times of Malcom X. Also active as a performer, recent credits include Bertarido in Rodelinda (Handel Opera Project), Luna Pearl Woolf’s Act Without Words (Bard Music West, world premiere), and the dance film Separate Sentences.

Michael received his doctorate from the Music and Music Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. His dissertation explored the use of vocal technique as a means of personal and cultural expression by elite black opera and musical theatre singers. His research continues to look at the representation of persons with marginalized identities in operatic and theatrical performance. He is the Director of the Musical Theatre Ensemble at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is also on the voice faculty at the College of Marin and the San Francisco Community Music Center.