Composer Frédéric Chaslin & librettist P.H. Fisher. Photo Courtesy of the Artists. Alyson Cambridge stars as Clarimonde. Photo by Enrique Vega.
For Immediate Release July 9, 2014
ON SITE OPERA AND THE PHOENICIA INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF THE VOICE PRESENT A WORKSHOP OF CLARIMONDE, A NEW OPERA BY FRÉDÉRIC CHASLIN WITH LIBRETTO BY P.H. FISHER
Conducted by Frédéric Chaslin; Directed by Eric Einhorn; Featuring Alyson Cambridge (Clarimonde), Dominic Armstrong (Romualdo), Clayton Mathews (The Maker) & Louis Otey (Bishop Serapion)
On Site Opera and The Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice present a developmental workshop of the new opera Clarimonde from composer Frédéric Chaslin and librettist P.H. Fisher. The workshop culminates with a public reading held on Saturday, August 2, 2014 at 1:30pm in the gothic sanctuary of St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church (109 Main St, Phoenicia, NY 12464). Clarimonde is the second opera written by composer/librettist team Frédéric Chaslin and P.H. Fisher and follows their successful collaboration on Wuthering Heights (2007; selections from the piece have recently performed/recorded in Norway, Italy, Israel and Russia by artists such as Natalie Dessay and Diana Damrau.) Chaslin himself will conduct and Eric Einhorn will direct a cast including Alyson Cambridge (soprano) as Clarimonde, Dominic Armstrong (tenor) as Romualdo, Clayton Mathews (bass-baritone) as The Maker and Louis Otey (baritone) as Bishop Serapion. Immediately following the performance, the audience is invited to participate in an open forum Q & A with the creative team and cast.
Clarimonde is an adaptation of Théophile Gautier’s La Morte Amoureuse (1836), a short story in the genre of the conte fantastique where science fiction, fantasy and magic realism merge. La Morte Amoureuse is a classic tale of the supernatural in which a young, handsome priest, Romualdo, falls in love with the beautiful vampiress Clarimonde, whom he first encounters on the day of his ordination ceremony. Clarimonde is not a neck-biting, ghoulish creature with fangs; rather, she is an exquisite, alluring courtesan who genuinely falls in love with Romualdo. She believes that his love for her (and his pure, priestly blood) will redeem her, rescuing her from the eternal doom created by The Maker, the dark vampire master. The tough and wise Bishop Serapion learns of Clarimonde’s seduction of Romualdo and wages a battle to save not only Romualdo’s physical life, but also his very soul.
Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online at www.phoeniciavoicefest.org or by phone at 845.586.3588. The performance will run approximately 90 minutes.
Since celebrated director Eric Einhorn founded it less than two years ago, On Site Opera has done much to prove that exciting opera can happen outside the walls of a traditional theater. The company has garnered acclaim not only for the immersive, site-specific nature of its productions—Shostakovich’s The Tale of the Silly Baby Mouse at the Bronx Zoo, Gershwin’s Blue Monday at the Cotton Club in Harlem, and, most recently, Rameau’s Pygmalion at Madame Tussauds New York and the Lifestyle-Trimco mannequin showroom—but also for their rigor. Reviewing Baby
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Mouse, Steve Smith wrote in The New York Times that the production “enchanted audience members of all ages,” and added, “connoisseurs, meanwhile, could hardly miss the seriousness and skill of the undertaking.” Committed to exploring new technology in opera, On Site Opera implemented the first-ever Google Glass supertitles during its recent production of Rameau’s Pygmalion of which The Verge reported “Few things seem like obvious fits for Google Glass so far, but this is one of them.” www.osopera.org
About the Clarimonde Performers
American soprano, Alyson Cambridge (Clarimonde), noted for her “powerful, clear voice” (New York Times), and her “revelatory, sensual, smoky readings” (Opera News) has enjoyed over a decade of success on many of the world’s leading opera and concert stages, with The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Carnegie Hall, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus, among them. Her diverse repertoire includes the beloved heroines of Puccini, Verdi, Mozart and French masters and successful forays into the crossover and jazz repertoire, including notable and award-winning performances in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Blue Monday, and Julie in Francesca Zambello’s new production of Show Boat. This season and beyond, Ms. Cambridge debuts at London’s Royal Albert Hall, San Diego Opera and Florentine Opera, all as Mimi in La bohème, returns to Washington National Opera as Musetta, and debuts with Dallas Opera, Spoleto Festival USA and the Phoenicia Festival. In concert, she joins the Omaha, Milwaukee and Madison Symphonies and American Festival Chorus and Orchestra, and performs in recital in New York, Washington, D.C. She is also a featured artist and host of the nationally televised Marian Anderson 75th Anniversary Concert and Tribute special. www.alysoncambridge.com
Dominic Armstrong, tenor (Romualdo), is a winner of the 2013 George London Foundation Vocal Competition. This season, Mr. Armstrong appears with the New York Philharmonic (Britten’s Spring Symphony), the Northwest Indiana Symphony (Cavaradossi in Tosca), the Philadelphia Orchestra/Opera Philadelphia (1st Jew in Salome), Boston Symphony (3rd Jew in Salome), Oregon Symphony (Holiday Concerts), the Symphony in C and Princeton Symphony (Britten’s Serenade), and in recital with Christine Brewer and Craig Rutenberg, with the George London Foundation. During summer 2014 and beyond, he creates the roles of Haydn and the Bartender in the world premiere performances of The Classical Style at the Ojai Festival, Cal Performances, and Carnegie Hall, sings Tamino in the The Magic Flute with Dayton Opera, and creates Arthur Dimmesdale in the world premiere of The Scarlet Letter with Opera Colorado. www.dominicarmstrong.com
Clayton Mathews, bass-baritone (The Maker) is a native of St. Louis has been praised for his rich colorful tone and profound character interpretations. In 2005, he won the South Florida Chapter National Association of Teachers of Singing competition. He has performed professionally in opera companies across the US including On Site Opera, Harlem Opera Theatre, Miami Lyric Opera, Riuniti Opera, Sunday Opera, and The Opera Project. Mr. Mathews’ most distinguished roles include Amonasro (Aida) and Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte). In 2012, he performed with the Miami Symphony Orchestra in an Opera Gala called “A Night of Opera.” He has also performed musical theatre roles such as Javert (Les Miserable) and Agwe (Once On This Island). Most recently, Mr. Mathews performed in George Gershwin’s opera Blue Monday as Mike at the legendary Cotton Club with On Site Opera & Harlem Opera Theatre. He has also performed at the Manchester Music Festival closing concert “Rising Stars from the Metropolitan Opera.” Mr. Mathews holds a B.M in Voice Performance from Barry University and currently attends Rutgers University’s Opera Institute. This summer, Mr. Mathews is a Resident Artist at the Crested Butte Music Festival.
Louis Otey, baritone (Bishop Serapion) A major stage personality noted for his incisive and dramatic interpretations, baritone Louis Otey has performed with the leading theaters throughout the world. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Mr. Astley in Prokofiev’s The Gambler and his European debut as the title role in Eugene Onegin in Basel. The New York Times describes him as “ardent and moving. His baritone bloomed on sustained notes, which had a shimmering quality... a powerful performance.” Recently, he triumphed as ‘Grandier’ in Penderecki’s The Devils of Loudun with the Royal Danish Opera. This season saw several role debuts – the title role in Sweeney Todd and his first ‘Tonio’ in I Pagliacci. He also debuted with the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia in Rome and London in the title role of Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero with Anthony Pappano conducting. Mr. Otey makes his return
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to Covent Garden in I Due Foscari next season. The 2014-2015 season also includes the title role in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Hollander with the South Dakota Symphony, performances of ‘Sharpless’ with Florida Opera Festival and a return to the Royal Danish Opera as ‘Monfort’ in Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes. www.louisotey.us
About the Clarimonde Creative Team
Frédéric Chaslin (Composer/Conductor) Conductor, pianist, composer and author, Frédéric Chaslin was born in Paris and educated at the Paris Conservatoire and the Salzburg Mozarteum. Mr. Chaslin made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2002, conducting Il Trovatore to great acclaim, and since then has led Met productions of The Tales of Hoffmann, Sicilian Vespers, The Barber of Seville, and La Bohème. He conducted Romeo and Juliet at the Los Angeles Opera in 2005, with Rolando Villazon and Anna Netrebko in the title roles. Mr. Chaslin returned to the Vienna State Opera for La Juive with Neil Shicoff and Werther with Jonas Kaufmann. As a composer, Mr. Chaslin has written orchestral pieces, movie soundtracks, and operas. His compositions include the Chagall Suite for Orchestra, whose world premiere was performed by the Jerusalem Symphony, “Diva Dance” for the film The Fifth Element, and the opera Wuthering Heights, on a libretto by P.H. Fisher and recorded by the London Philharmonia and the London Sympony Chorus, with soprano Olga Peretyatko. The Overture, Choral Suite from Wuthering Heights has been recently performed in Oslo, Bologna, and Israel. Wuthering Heights selections were performed in St. Petersburg with Valery Gergiev conducting Natalie Dessay, singing two of the lead arias from the opera. Diana Damrau sings Mr. Chaslin’s Vocalise on her recently released album. He has written complete song cycles for soprano and baritone based on the poems of Robert Frost. Current works-in-progress include a symphony, orchestral and chamber compositions, an operatic Diptyque Fantastique: Clarimonde coupled with Avatar, based on the short works of French author, Theophile Gautier, libretto by P.H. Fisher. Frédéric Chaslin is Music Director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, a position he started in September 2012. www.chaslin.com
P.H. Fisher (Librettist) After graduation from Indiana University, P.H. Fisher continued studies at Playwrights Horizons, The Juilliard School at Night and The New School. She has written screenplays, stage plays, has been published in numerous periodicals and authored a book for Simon and Schuster. P.H. Fisher served as lead producer, co-producer or assistant on projects such as Broadway’s hit revival Damn Yankees, David Mamet’s Oleanna, Rogers and Hart Rediscovered, and Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods among others. She co-founded Millennial Arts Productions (M.A.P.), which became known for its edgy, innovative productions of baroque and operatic repertoire, staged at site-specific venues throughout Manhattan. M.A.P. world premiered the first fully staged version of Handel’s Messiah, which toured as the headliner for the Holland Early Music Festival. M.A.P. staged Stravinsky’s ballet Pulcinella as well as a critically acclaimed production of Handel’s oratorio Esther merged with Racine’s play of the same name. Fisher wrote and directed the feature-length film, “Finding Eleazar” starring opera tenor Neil Shicoff (Tribeca Film Festival, the Montreal World Festival Of Films, Savannah Film Festival, and Boston/Haifa Film Festival) and collaborated with legendary film director Sidney Lumet on a short music film shown in the Palm Springs Festival. P.H. Fisher is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.
Eric Einhorn (Director, Clarimonde; Founder and Artistic Director, On Site Opera) Eric Einhorn has been praised by The Austin Chronicle as “a rising star in the opera world” and by Opera News for his “keen eye for detail and character insight.” He is the founder of On Site Opera, a company dedicated to immersive, site-specific productions. Mr. Einhorn has directed productions for Chicago Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Florentine Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Utah Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, the Pacific Symphony, and Gotham Chamber Opera. He has been a member of the stage directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera since 2005. This season, he directed new productions of Giulio Cesare for Florentine Opera and Carmina Burana for the Pacific Symphony, as well as the revival of La Cenerentola at the Metropolitan Opera. Upcoming engagements include Carmen for Portland Opera and the world premier of The Property, a klezmer opera commissioned by Chicago Lyric’s Lyric Unlimited, for which Mr. Einhorn is also the co-adapter of the libretto. www.ericeinhorn.net
About On Site Opera
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Founded in 2012, On Site Opera is dedicated to producing site-specific opera in non-traditional venues throughout New York. On Site Opera molds its productions to specific locations using physical space to create an environment in which the concept, storytelling, music, and performers unite to form an immersive, cohesive, and meaningful whole. Praised by BBC News as “innovative” and by The New York Times for their “seductive” productions, On Site Opera has presented Shostakovich at The Bronx Zoo, Gershwin at Harlem’s legendary Cotton Club, and Rameau at Madame Tussauds New York and the Lifestyle-Trimco mannequin showroom.
In addition to site-specific productions, On Site Opera’s mission includes forging community partnerships in order to bring opera to new and underserved audiences, as well as fostering the development of emerging talent through performance and production opportunities. On Site Opera, a registered 501(c)(3), is a member of Opera America and the New York Opera Alliance. www.osopera.org
About Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice The Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice promotes the human voice as an instrument of peace, healing and artistic expression, through presenting world class performances of opera, song, world music, baroque, new vocal and choral music in Phoenicia, New York and surrounding areas.
The Festival offers something for everyone. Visitors stroll from venue to venue enjoying the lovely stores and restaurants on Main Street while breathing the pure mountain air, and listen to vocal music in its highest form in the heart of the Catskills. www.phoeniciavoicefest.org/
For more information, please contact Blake Zidell or Emily Reilly at Blake Zidell & Associates, 718.643.9052, [email protected] or [email protected].
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