Aliceheimer’s: A Chamber Opera

Balancing the beauty of imagination with the bittersweet truths of aging, , illustrates how art and storytelling promote healing: both for patients and their care partners – and for audiences experiencing their own relatable journeys in health, connection, and belonging. Aliceheimer's charts a path to healing, magic, and laughter amidst the cognitive changes brought about by dementia. It traces Alice’s journey as a daughter of the Armenian genocide who started life in a NYC tenement, to the peace she found through dementia.

This powerful piece – based on Dana Mashoian Walrath's graphic memoir, with music by composer Erik Nielsen, is being offered with collaboration with artistic and research faculty from the Johns Hopkins University Medicine, Science, and Humanities Program at the School of Arts and Sciences, the Program in the Arts, Humanities, & Health at the School of Medicine, and the International Arts + Mind Lab — and with support from Hopkins’ Alexander Grass Humanities Institute.

Scenes from the opera will be performed as part of this year's Conference of the Graphic Medicine International Collective in Baltimore, MD. The performance, offered in Hurd Hall on the Johns Hopkins University Medical Campus (July 24 at 7:00 pm) features graduates and faculty from The Peabody Institute: Gloria Yin & Sophia Sorrentino.

The performance, followed by a brief educational discussion, is free and open to the public! Please register to attend or donate here, to provide financial support for this or future performances! All media and collaboration inquiries can be directed to [email protected].