infinitesimal

"an extraordinary new step into chamber opera..."

"The intimate and dream-like sequences highlight universal experiences like love, death, belonging, and the search for meaning, making this oeuvre destined to touch hearts."

— Pure.Art Circle, Italy

"amplifies the vital inter-connection between humans, Nature, and Art"

— Alexander Spögler, Paradiso Pure.Living

"Absolutely worth listening to, & shows all the colors of music and life."

"Delicate songs combine with brilliant music as listeners embark on a journey into themselves."

— Sabine Ricarda Schubart

The interwoven lives of Jeremy and Nicole flash before our eyes in this interactive chamber opera that explores what happens when we pass from this life to the beyond. From laughs and loss to love and overcoming, this genre-blurring musical memoir explores the depth and beauty of human life. Infinitesimal transforms two musicians into an expansive musical landscape full of surprising new sounds that reimagines every aspect of the singer pianist duo.Seamlessly moving between opera and theater, the intimate and dream-like sequences highlight our shared experiences and interconnectedness, revealing how small we are in the context of the universe and also how large we are in the richness of our lives.

Informed by cutting-edge neurological research on near death experiences as well the work of social psychologist Susie Wise, this opera takes place in an imagined dream state of what it might feel like to revisit moments in our lives during the process of death in a series of fragmented memories.Infinitesimal was created by Nicole Brancato (composer/pianist) and Jeremy Weiss (baritone/theater artist) to delve into the most wondered about but little known experience that we will all traverse. This project was made possible with the support of The Puffin Foundation, Ltd., Pure.Art Circle, and Paradiso Pure.Living.The chances of each of us coming into existence are infinitesimally small, and even though we shall all die some day, we should count ourselves fantastically lucky to get our decades in the sun. — Richard Dawkins

Nicole Brancato

Nicole Brancato makes music to unlock wonder. Fascinated with contemporary expressions of our shared human experience, the NYC-based pianist merges curation, composition and performance in collaborations across the arts. Described as “brilliant” and an “immense talent” (New York Magazine and Connect Savannah), Nicole is “redefining the very notion of classical music” (Atención San Miguel). Her credits range from the Guggenheim Museum (NYC), Rai Italia, and the Banff Centre (Canada) to Lincoln Center, Bellas Artes (Mexico), HBO, and the “underground” performances in Brooklyn factories and warehouses.An awardee of the New York Foundation of the Arts (2024), IPaT/GTRI Research & Engagement Grant (2024), New York State Council on the Arts (2024), Pure.Art Circle Italy (2024), and National Sawdust’s Hildegard Commission (2022 Finalist), Nicole has curated more than 100 productions featuring 200+ compositions and commissions over the last decade. Described as a “piano virtuoso” (The Daily Gazette, Saratoga Springs), Nicole focuses on the kinetic energy exchange in performances — with both her collaborators and her audience. Such collaborations range from .soundfullness — a salvaged piano installation that transforms outdoor spaces into places of deep listening — to partnering with artist/author Sam Morris in “wait-list-only” performances at actor Alan Cumming’s NYC Club.A frequent guest presenter of workshops, master classes, and residencies, Nicole has delivered sessions for the Gesellschaftshaus Magdeburg, Germany; Lunigiana International Music Festival, Italy; for the Sphinx Organization; and for universities across the US. In 2022, she joined Seven Hills Chamber Music as Director and a distinguished Artist in Residence. She is a Yamaha Artist and a voting member of The Recording Academy (GRAMMYS), and her music is registered with ASCAP. www.nicolebrancato.com

Jeremy Weiss

Jeremy Weiss is a Paris-based, American baritone praised for his sensitivity, luminosity, and intelligence in opera, music theatre, and art song. In April of 2024, Weiss will make his Paris Opera debut as Harry Easter in their production of Street Scene. He will also perform this season in Falla’s La Vida Breve with Opera Metz Metropole and in Madama Butterfly with Les Escales Lyrique on Île d’Yeu. In 2023, Weiss sang the role of Lorenzo in Les Compagnons Lyriques’s production of Doña Francisquita. In 2022, Weiss was the third prize winner of the Lotte Lenya Competition, where he had previously twice been a finalist and award winner (2019, 2020), and in October 2022, he was also a semi-finalist in the Les Maîtres du Chant competition in Paris.His 2021 performances of Schubert songs in The Wandering were described by Opera News as “full of a languid, indigo-tinged sensuousness that breaks through dimensions and depths of these songs that few performers ever manage to uncover.” In 2021, Weiss also sang the role of Schaunard in La Bohème with Charlottesville Opera. In 2019, Weiss was seen on PBS Great Performances as a street singer in Bernstein's Mass with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Marin Alsop. 2019 also brought two premieres: Weiss debuted at National Sawdust in the world premier of Dialogues of the Travelers and premiered the role of The Creature (The Modern Prometheus) in Redhook’s Studio 153.A lover of both modern and baroque music, Weiss has recently been seen in roles as diverse as the title characters of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and Belli's Orfeo Dolente, as well as performing Garibaldo in Handel’s Rodelinda and Lifeguard in The Good Swimmer at BAM. He also was a member of the ensemble at the Aspen Opera Institute in 2018. Jeremy completed an MM at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music where he studied with Dr. Brian Gill, and graduated from Yale University with a double major in Humanities and Theater Studies. www.jeremyweissperformer.com