Maestra Lacrymae
Anastasia Bay / Joseph Schiano di Lombo
Release Date Sept. 12, 2026
Originally developed as the sonic counterpart to an exhibition by Anastasia Bay, Maestra Lacrymae is a five-act opera conceived and directed by Bay, and written, composed and performed by Joseph Schiano di Lombo. Moving through five archetypal figures embodied by a single transforming voice, the work carries Bay’s visual universe into an autonomous double vinyl edition.
Double LP. 140 g black vinyl. Gatefold sleeve.
Edition of 300 copies, including 50 special editions featuring an original artwork by Anastasia Bay.
Catalogue number: SPT26-2. EAN: 7649988016547
Originally developed as the sonic counterpart to an exhibition by visual artist Anastasia Bay, Maestra Lacrymae is an opera conceived and directed by Bay and written and composed by multidisciplinary artist Joseph Schiano di Lombo. Originating in their 2024 collaboration at the Brussels gallery Sorry We’re Closed, the work has evolved into an autonomous double vinyl edition. Rather than documenting the exhibition, the record expands its visual universe into an ambitious, specific operatic musical work.
Structured in five acts, the opera unfolds through five archetypal figures: Golem, Artemis, Dibutadès, Penelope and Gille-en-Elle. Performed through a single voice transformed across multiple identities, these characters draw on mythology, art history, carnival traditions and contemporary feminist thought. As a way of conveying Anastasia Bay’s eerie, multi-layered Baroque visual world, the composition brings together ancient poetic forms, opera, spoken word and electroacoustic treatments in a work that moves freely between music, theatre and visual art.
Joseph Schiano di Lombo’s musical composition and performance navigate masterfully between genres, delicately touching on electronic ritual, psych-folk songs, ethereal modern classical music, and haunting minimalism. The LP presents the complete opera as a listening experience while preserving its close relationship to the exhibition from which it emerged.
Designed by Quentin Lamouroux, the album captures the complexity of this crossover experiment by presenting a complete libretto of the opera in the form of an art object. Anastasia Bay has also produced a limited edition of 50 copies, each of which includes an original, signed, and numbered artwork.
Side A
Act I: La Golem
Acte II: Artémis, La Génitrice
Side B
Act III: Dibutadès, Juste-la-Fille-du-Père
Act IV : Pénélope la Hackeuse
Side C
Act V: Gille-en-Elle, l’Arlequine
Epilogue de Gille-en-Elle
Side D
Ouverture / Fermeture
Placement du public
Anastasia Bay – concept, artistic direction and artwork
Joseph Schiano di Lombo – writing, composition and performance
Emilie Pischedda – dramaturgy
Merlin Modulaw – mixing
Frédéric Alstadt, Mont Analogue – mastering and lacquer cut
Quentin Lamouroux – graphic design
Produced by Sorry We’re Closed × Speckled-Toshe.
Maestra Lacrymae was conceived by Anastasia Bay as an opera for voice and keyboard and written, composed and performed by Joseph Schiano di Lombo.
The work is issued as a double LP in an edition of 300 copies. A special edition features covers individually overdrawn by Anastasia Bay.
Anastasia Bay creates paintings that draw upon mythological and art historical sources, blending ancient figurative traditions with contemporary culture. A graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the French, Brussels based artist’s work ifrom the powers of theater and opera in order to channel the subversive forces of carnival, extending the realm of painting to the environment and the stage.
Joseph Schiano di Lombo is a French composer, visual artist, and author based in Pantin. Initially trained in piano and clarinet, he graduated from the École nationale supérieure des Arts décoratifs de Paris. His unclassifiable music explores the boundaries between songwriting, experimental music, and modern composition. Often working in collaboration, across disciplines, he composed for films, exhibitions, and fashion brands.
This edition is co-published by Sorry We’re Closed and Speckled-Toshe. The collaboration brings together the gallery’s work with Anastasia Bay and Speckled-Toshe’s editorial approach to artist records, considering sound, text, artwork and graphic design as interconnected parts of a single publication.