Project

The Summer King
Music by Daniel Sonenberg
Libretto by Daniel Nester & Daniel Sonenberg

About The Summer King

The Summer King is an opera in two acts based on the life of Josh Gibson, one of the greatest Negro League baseball players. A home run hitting catcher, Gibson was often called the Black Babe Ruth, and had a career spanning from the late 1920s until his death in 1947, only several months before Jackie Robinson broke the Major League color barrier.  At the time of his death, Gibson, though only 35 years old, was addled with injuries, and suffered from what may have been a brain tumor. Reports say that near the end of his life he was overheard having boisterous conversations with an imaginary Joe DiMaggio. Had he lived and maintained his health, he almost certainly would have had the opportunity to spend some of his late career in the white major leagues, as the best of his Negro League colleagues did. The opera examines the importance of Gibson’s legacy as a ballplayer and a historical figure. Although Gibson had neither the temperament nor the youth to play Jackie Robinson’s ultimate role, he was centrally responsible for the Negro League’s immense popularity and high level of play – and as such, paved the way for the era of integrated baseball. Having hit over 800 homeruns in his career, he died young, almost forgotten, without witnessing or enjoying the fruits of his labor.

The Summer King has been made possible in part by NYSCA, The New York State Music Fund, established by the NY State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors, and NYC’s Department of Cultural Affairs.

About the Creators

Daniel Sonenberg (composer) has written extensively for chamber and orchestral ensembles, focusing most recently on vocal works. His music has been performed by the Da Capo Chamber Players, Friends and Enemies of New Music, the American Composers Alliance, South Oxford Six, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and many others. He is the recipient of grants and fellowships from Meet the Composer, the MacDowell Colony, the Corporation of Yaddo and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Mr. Sonenberg studied composition under Joan Tower, Daron Hagen, and David Del Tredici. He holds a DMA from the City University of New York, and is currently Assistant Professor and Resident Composer at the University of Southern Maine. www.danielsonenberg.com

Daniel Nester (librettist) is the author of God Save My Queen (Soft Skull Press 2003), a meditation on his obsession with the rock band Queen. He is the editor of the online journal Unpleasant Event Schedule, as well as a contributing editor for Painted Bride Quarterly and DUCKY. His work has appeared in Open City, Nerve, Columbia Poetry Review, LIT, Verse, Mississippi Review, Spinning Jenny, Slope, Jacket, Crazyhorse, and others. A poem of his was selected by Yusef Komunyakaa to appear in The Best American Poetry 2003.

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AOP Presentations

August 25 - September 8, 2007
Staged reading of Act I, sc. 1-2
Music Direction: Steven Osgood & Elizabeth Scott
Stage Direction: Seret Scott
Pianist: Charity Wicks
Featuring performances by: Lynn Randolph (Elder Barber); Kenneth Overton (Younger Barber/Josh Gibson); Lori-Kaye Miller (Elder Barber's Wife); Robert Hoyt (Radio Announcer), Franklin Westbrooks ("Broadway" Connie Rector, Barbershop Customer), Trevor Munnerlyn (Kid)

August 25, 2007
St. John's Place on Stage in front of Five Myles Gallery
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

March 30-31, 2007
Concert reading of Act I, sc. 1-2
138 South Oxford St. - Ft. Greene, Brooklyn
Music Direction: Steven Osgood
Pianist: Jocelyn Dueck
Featuring performances by: Leon Browne (Elder Barber); Anthony Turner (Younger Barber/Josh Gibson); Lori-Kaye Miller (Elder Barber's Wife); Robert Hoyt (Radio Announcer)

March 18, 2007
Staged reading of Act I, sc. 1-2
Works in Progress: New Music Premieres with Midge Woolsey of WQXR, Guest Host
in association with Opera Index and the Manhattan School of Music Department of Opera Studies
Greenfield Hall, Manhattan School of Music
Music Direction: Steven Osgood
Stage Direction: Seret Scott
Pianist: Charity Wicks
Featuring performances by: Leon Browne (Elder Barber); Jason McKinney (Younger Barber/Josh Gibson); Lori-Kaye Miller (Elder Barber's Wife); Robert Hoyt (Radio Announcer)

March 9, 2007
Concert reading of scenes
in association with the Univ. of Southern Maine School of Music
Corthell Concert Hall - The University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME
Music Direction: Steven Osgood
Featuring performances by: Leon Browne (Elder Barber/Trash Talking Player); Anthony Turner (Younger Barber); Lori-Kaye Miller (Elder Barber's Wife/Grace); Jason McKinney (Sam Bankhead)

April 19 & 20, 2005
Concert reading of scenes
The Great Room (138 South Oxford Space, Brooklyn, NY)
Music Direction by Steven Osgood
Featuring performances by: Andre Solomon Glover (Josh Gibson); Keith Miller (Sam Bankhead); Enrique Toral (Trash-Talking Player); Jeniece Golbourne (Grace); Charles Temkey, Keith Jameson (Men’s Chorus)

May 26, 2004
Libretto reading
NYCOpera presents VOX 2004 & Friends
Directed by Ned Canty, director of the American Opera Projects Libretto Reading series
Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater
Symphony Space, NYC

March 14, 2004
Staged reading of scenes
Works in Progress: New Music Premieres with Midge Woolsey of WQXR, Guest Host
in association with Opera Index and the Manhattan School of Music Department of Opera Studies
Greenfield Hall, Manhattan School of Music
Directed by Caren France

Sep. 27-28, 2003
Concert reading of scenes
Composers & the Voice: Six Scenes
The Great Room (138 South Oxford Space, Brooklyn, NY)
Music Direction by Steven Osgood

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