THE EXCEPTIONAL NINA SMART: A PORTRAIT IN WORDS AND SONG
- RCI USA
- Mar 6
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 18
Conversation and opera recital
About the Event
This March, as part of our month-long celebration of female creativity, we are pleased to invite you to an evening of storytelling, advocacy, and music, honoring the trailblazing writer, activist, and librettist Nina Smart. Nina’s powerful memoir, "Wild Flower: The True Story of a Romanian Girl in Africa", recounts her breathtaking life as African-Romanian woman who, after escaping Ceaușescu’s terrible dictatorship, and the harmful traditional practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Sierra Leone found her call, as activist and spokesperson, in the fight against FGM. Now, her exceptional story inspires not just readers, human rights leaders, and politicians, but also composers, who are bringing it to life as an opera-in-the-making. Join us for an intimate portrait-event celebrating an exceptional woman and championing female voices and resilience through a conversation with Nina, an exploration of her book, and an exclusive presentation of scenes from the upcoming opera. With special guests Sharon Fisher, past president of Soroptimist International, composer João MacDowell, opera singers Kyaunnee Richardson and Rachel Deatherage, and pianist Mireia Frutos Fernandez. The event is organized in partnership with the International Brazilian Opera Company – IBOC.
About the Writer
Dr. Nina Smart is a human rights activist, sociologist, and author with a unique biography, serving as an example of tenacity, strength, and determination that inspires generations of young women around the world through her unexpected trajectory. Her life story starts from growing up as a Romanian-African girl in totalitarian Romania, to her decision to move to Sierra Leone, where she discovers a world anchored in violent ancestral practices (Female Genital Mutilations), revelations that lead her to choose to flee to America where she will pursue her studies, obtaining a PhD in Sociology at Irvine in California and she will begin her career as an activist and representative of the fight against FGM in major international institutions such as the United Nations. In 2004, Dr. Smart founded Servicing Wild Flowers – SWF International, a Los Angeles based non-profit NGO that raises awareness about FGM through lectures and presentations for students and socially conscious groups. She currently works directly in rural areas of Sierra Leone, together with SWF partners, who facilitate community meetings, operate the only safe house for FGM survivors and educate women and children about human rights. Her organization supports projects that protect girls and women from FGM. In November 2014, she launched her memoir, "Wild Flower – the True Story of a Romanian Girl in Africa", used in numerous universities across the US to teach courses in the social sciences, peace, and conflict studies, literary composition, media, law, and society, education and women’s studies and has served as an inspiration for the International Brazilian Opera Company that decided to commission an opera based upon Dr. Nina Smart’s memoir "Wild Flower".
About the Guests
SHARON FISHER is the current president of Soroptimist International, a global volunteer movement created to transform the lives of women and girls in areas, regions and countries subject to military, civil conflict, as well as precarious economic, social and political conditions. The network has 65,000 chapter members in 118 countries, working locally, nationally and internationally to educate, empower and provide opportunities for women and girls around the world. The organization works closely with institutions such as the UN through the SDGs and MDGs sustainable development mechanisms.
JOÃO MACDOWELL is a Brazilian composer known for his fusion of contemporary and popular styles with classical music, opera and chamber music. Considered by the trade press as a "new-style thinker in opera", MacDowell is the author of five operas, including Tamanduá, which received the Boston Metropolitan Opera's Tamanduá Award, was composer-in-residence at the prestigious Ingmar Bergman Estate Foundation, and in 2018 the Moderna Museum in Stockholm premiered his opera The Seventh Seal, based on the film by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. He is currently working in New York, developing innovative international projects with the New York Alliance as Artistic Director of the International Brazilian Opera Company.
RACHEL DEATHERAGE is a mezzo-soprano recognized for the "powerful tone and sparkling coloratura" of her voice (The Stage). She has appeared, in the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons, in the following productions: Orlofsky's Die Fledermaus, La Cenerentola at Schloss Kirchstetten, Werther at New York Opera Forum, in Night at the Opera at Barn Opera and Vermont Opera.
KYAUNNEE RICHARDSON is a soprano with a strong personality and remarkable vocal timbre. She often collaborates in international projects with: Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Symphony of the Americas, Orlando Philharmonic, South Florida Symphony Orchestra, Hallandale Symphonic Pops Orchestra, Sugar Pops Orchestra, Opera Fusion Orchestra, Coral Gables Chamber Orchestra and the Sunrise Symphonic Pops Orchestra. Most recently, Kyaunnee placed first in the 2023 Ebony Opera's Benjamin Matthews Vocal Competition and was a semifinalist in the 2023 American Traditions Vocal Competition, where she received the Sherrill Milnes American Opera Award. Other awards include being one of the top four finalists in the Noir Orchestra International Medallion Competition, a finalist in the 2020 SAS Performing Arts SAS Vocal Competition, etc.
MIREIA FRUTOS FERNANDEZ is currently a pianist based in New York City. She is in the process of finishing a Doctorate in Collaborative Piano at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. She holds a Master of Music at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary, and a Bachelor's Degree at the Superior Conservatory of Aragón, Spain.As an artist, she has performed in Australia, Malaysia, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Hungary, Israel, and the USA, both as a solo pianist, as a collaborator with a wide variety of ensembles, and as a soloist with orchestras. Mireia is currently an Associate Instructor in the Collaborative Piano department at Jacobs School of Music. She has also worked for years as a freelance pianist and piano teacher in Spain, Malaysia and the USA, working with students from many different ages and backgrounds. Since 2014 she has worked as chamber music teacher for the summer course “Musique et Montagne” in France with her cellist partner Morgane de Lafforest.
