AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS (AOP) will begin its 22nd season of commissioning, developing and presenting new opera and music theatre works this fall. From its home in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, AOP opens the artistic process to audiences with libretto readings, concerts and workshops throughout the year featuring AOP’s unique intimate discussions with the creative artists. With ticket prices averaging under $20, AOP will be the go-to destination for budget-conscious audiences eager to sample exciting and timely new works that have their authors present to talk about their creations.
AOP will be entering the recording studios for the first-ever CD recording of its commissioned opera Darkling (2006), with music by Stefan Weisman and a libretto by Anna Rabinowitz based on her book, to be released by Albany Records in 2011. Judgment of Midas, a new opera by Turkish-American composer Kamran Ince and librettist Miriam Siedel, will be recorded in Ankara, Turkey to be released on Naxos Records. Judgment of Midas, based on an ancient myth of a musical battle of the gods set in Sardis, Turkey, will feature Turkish instruments incorporated into the orchestra by the composer.
The 2010-2011 New York opera season will also feature the local premiere of Séance on a Wet Afternoon, the first opera by composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell), at New York City Opera. Expect numerous AOP-hosted events to celebrate the premiere in April. Séance was developed at AOP as part of its core development program First Chance; projects familiar to AOP audiences that are returning to AOP’s First Chance program this season include Love/Hate, Marymere, Semmelweis, and Judgment of Midas. AOP will also initiate development work on Sun Yat-Sen by Huang Ruo, an opera about the historical Chinese revolutionary, commissioned and slated to premiere in Beijing and Hong Kong in 2011.
AOP will continue developing and workshopping pieces in its ongoing operatic monodrama series, offering powerful one-act works for solo singers. Following 2009’s L’ Abbe Agathon, a commissioned adaptation for the stage from Arvo Pärt that debuted at the Guggenheim Museum, the monodrama series continues with The Wanton Sublime (by Heart of Darkness composer Tarik O’Regan and Darkling librettist Anna Rabinowitz), Nora and the Great Outdoors (Daniel Felsenfeld/Will Eno), Our Basic Nature (John Glover/Kelley Rourke), and Mohammed Fairouz’s Jeder Mensch weisst Alles (Every Person knows Everything), with mezzo Kate Lindsey (Met Opera, Seattle Opera’s Amelia) as the notorious Alma Mahler.
2010-11 will also see new performances generated through its artistic partnership with The Walt Whitman Project and its two commissioning programs Walt Whitman in Song and I Hear America Singing. Performances of the recent compositions from these programs including “Calamus Songs,” “Songs from the F Train,” and “Songs from the A Train” will continue to be programmed throughout the city during the year with a new set of songs commissioned for premiere at the Make Music NY Festival in June 2011.
And, as always, AOP will continue its tradition of free, outdoor community presentations, educational symposiums featuring composers and singers introducing their craft to young audiences and students, and commissioning and presenting world-premiere songs, throughout the year. Information on all of these shows and events can be found throughout the season at AOP’s website www.operaprojects.org.
AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS: 2009-2010 Season
September 12, 2010: Love/Hate
AOP teams with the Center City Opera Theatre in Philadelphia to present performances of scenes and libretto reading from Love/Hate (composer, Jack Perla; librettist, Rob Bailis) as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Performances include discussions and talk-back sessions with composers and creators to discuss the creation and development of the operas. Philadelphia, PA
September-October, 2010: Darkling
AOP begins production on the studio recording of Darkling to be distributed by Albany Records in 2011. Performances by Jon Garrison, Hai-Ting Chinn, Mark Uhlemann, Maeve Hoglund, and Carol Monda. Music Director, Brian DeMaris. Soundscape director, Matt Gray. Produced by Judith Sherman.
Opera Grows in Brooklyn, 2010-11
October 15 and December 10, 2010. 2011 dates TBA. AOP, in collaboration with Opera on Tap, continues its hit quarterly series of contemporary opera at one of Brooklyn’s most innovative performing venues. Galapagos Art Space - 16 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.
Fall 2010: Marymere
AOP presents Marymere by Matthew Schickele in concert. Performances by Hai-Ting Chinn. Mannes College, 150 West 85th Street, New York, NY 10024.
January 9-23, 2011: Judgment of Midas
AOP partners with Bilkent Symphony Orchestra for the concert premiere and recording of Judgment of Midas (composer, Kamran Ince; librettist Miriam Seidel). Performances by Lynn Cagler and Matt Morgan. Music direction by J. David Jackson. Ankara, Turkey.
February 4-6, 2011: Nora and the Great Outdoors
AOP presents the first piano-vocal workshop of new monodrama (composer, Daniel Felsenfeld; librettist Will Eno). South Oxford Space, 138 South Oxford St., Brooklyn, NY 11217.
April 29, 2011: The Wanton Sublime
AOP teams with the Institute for Advanced Study to present a piano-vocal workshop of new monodrama (composer, Tarik O’Regan; librettist Anna Rabinowitz). Wolfensohn Hall, The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 08540.
Spring 2011: Jeder Mensch weisst Alles (Every Person knows Everything)
AOP will present excerpts from the opera by Mohammed Fairouz, featuring mezzo-soprano and co-creator Kate Lindsey. Venue TBA.
Spring 2011: Semmelweis
AOP will present further staged workshops of the opera (composer, Raymond Lustig; librettist, Matthew Doherty). Venue TBA.
And also in AOP’s 2010-11 season, development on a new opera by Huang Ruo, Sun Yat-Sen, to be premiered in Beijing and Hong Kong.
When Opera News stated “the future of American opera is in good hands,” (June 2008) they were not just referring to American Opera Projects’ hands, they were referring to yours, too. With your support, we will fulfill our mission of creating and presenting the best new, original opera and songs. AOP must not lose this momentum in being “a perfect first exposure to opera,” (Time Out/NY) “known for bringing cutting-edge vocal productions to the masses.”(New York)
You can demonstrate your commitment now by making a (fully tax-deductible) contribution
through the “Network for Good” button below.
With generous partners like you, who are willing to maintain a sustained financial commitment to AOP, the organization will survive to create the future of American opera.
Sincerely,
Charles Jarden, General Director
Robert E. Lee III, President/Managing Director
Matt Gray, Producing Director
