A Pair of Cokehead Nurses, a Drag Chanteuse

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

A Pair of Cokehead Nurses, a Drag Chanteuse pg 12 pg 1 attract the Loa and become their ‘ves- RECORDING CREDITS sels’ are social misfits: a pair of cokehead Produced by Anne LeBaron nurses, a drag chanteuse, men who kill. Recorded May 26-27, 2012, (These characters become possessed by final two live performances: their archetypal Loa, so that each singer Atwater Crossing, Los Angeles takes on two roles.) Marie Laveau, like an improvising composer who is expert E. M. Gimenez - Production Sound at putting different things together, truly Designer & Recording Engineer understands the old maxim, as above so Ryan Ainsworth - Associate Sound below. In Scene 6 she declares, “All my Designer & Mixing Engineer power don’t come from Loa. Some of it Michael Marshall - Sound Intern/ comes from lower,” and makes a sugges- Deck Audio tive movement. These two power sources Mastered by Greg Reierson at Rareform – as well as an appetite for poetry and pun, gods and lowlifes – make themselves avail- Innova is supported by an endowment able to you when you have one foot in dirt from the McKnight Foundation. and one foot in water and are home on Philip Blackburn, director, design land and in the river. And when you have Chris Campbell, manager all that, so what if your name is mud? Steve McPherson, publicist pg 2 pg 11 CREDITS Crescent City was performed a dozen times at Harry Partch took the Gesamtkunstwerk lery that populates Bertolt Brecht’s city of Music and electronics by Anne LeBaron Atwater Crossing in Los Angeles throughout May idea so seriously that he built his own in- Mahagonny as it rises and falls makes it an Libretto by Douglas Kearney 2012. Additional credits related to these perfor- struments as objects of sculptural beauty, essential precursor for Crescent City. The Directed by Yuval Sharon mances: Conducted by Marc Lowenstein tuned them to his own just-intonation fundamental vision of LeBaron’s hyperop- REVELERS: Jordan Baker, Stacia Hitt, Justo Leon, system, and featured them onstage in his era, however, is not the political analysis of CAST (in order of appearance) Gabriel Romero, Chelsea Spirito, Max Wanderman music theater works. They were played by Brecht and Weill but rather the common Jonathan Mack: COP/BARON SAMEDI costumed musicians who not only inter- concern of Partch and Falla and Britten Ashley Faatoalia: JESSE DESIGN and PRODUCTION: Laura Kay Swanson acted with singers, actors, and dancers, and Stravinsky: our fatal, catastrophic dis- Gwendolyn Brown: MARIE LAVEAU (Producer); Philip Curtis (Musical Sound Designer); but also were charged with singing, act- connect from the undying spiritual forces Marc Lowenstein: BOUND GHOST Ivy Chou (Costume Designer); Sibyl Wickersheimer ing, and dancing. But woe to those who that surround us. People have settled for Maria Elena Altany: MARASSA JUMEAUX/NURSE (Scenic Designer); Elizabeth Harper (Lighting Ji Young Yang: MARASSA JUMEAUX/NURSE Designer); Jason H Thompson (Projection call what Partch did any kind of “opera.” As what they can buy and sell, what they can Timur Bekbosunov: ERZULIE/DEADLY BELLE Designer); Eric Nolfo (Technical Director) Partch explained in his notes for the pre- eat and fuck, and none of that helps when Cedric Berry: GOOD MAN/BARON CARREFOUR miere of Water! Water! (1961), “Singing is the waters start rising. Lillian Sengpiehl: HOMESICK WOMAN VISUAL ARTIST INSTALLATIONS always involved in these works, recitatives Mason Cooley (Good Man’s Shack); Brianna and choruses frequently, yet they are nev- Throughout Water! Water! Partch wove ORCHESTRA Gorton (Cemetery); Katie Grinnan (Junk Heap); er opera.” his own English rendition of the first two Sarah Wass FLUTE Alice Könitz (Swamp); Jeff Kopp (Hospital); Olga lines of Chapter 8 of the Dao De Jing: “The Brian Walsh REEDS Koumoundouros (Dive Bar) Erin Breen Armstrong REEDS An apocalyptic satire that features a Del- highest goodness is like water. It seeks Christoffer Schunk KEYBOARDS Special thanks to the California Institute of the Arts uge, Partch’s Water! Water! – although not the low place that all men dislike.” Water Daniel Corral ACCORDION, for pre-mastering studio and equipment; to the an opera – serves as a kind of missing link does indeed seek the lowest point, and CHROMELODEON Los Angeles Opera, Todd Reynolds, and Jeff between Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the no place is lower or more detestable than Austin Kowalczyk SAW Kleeman from the Los Angeles Opera for the City of Mahagonny and Anne LeBaron’s the shambles that is Crescent City. .which Matthew Setzer ELECTRIC GUITAR sound equipment used to make the live record- ings; and to the MAP Fund, along with all the indi- Crescent City. The same can also be said means that the oncoming flood must be a Andrew Lessman DRUMSET of a few other not-operas of roughly the good thing. (The imminent hurricane does T.J. Troy PERCUSSION vidual supporters for making The Industry’s pro- Jonah Levy TRUMPET duction of Crescent City possible. Also thanks to same time. Manuel de Falla’s scenic can- already have the name Charity.) Matt Barbier TROMBONE Jeremy J. Beck, attorney. tata Atlántida (completed posthumously Luke Storm TUBA by Ernesto Halffter in 1961 and revised Responding to Marie Laveau’s plea, the Thanks to photographers: Eric KM Clark VIOLIN Dana Ross (Digi cover and booklet, p.3); in 1976) includes the submergence of jaded Loa (gods and goddesses from the Orin Hildestad VIOLIN Joshua White <JWPICTURES.com> (disc trays); Atlantis; the Biblical story of Noah and Vodou pantheon) deign to manifest them- Cassia Streb VIOLA and Steve Gunther (all other photos). the Flood is retold by Benjamin Britten in selves, prowling the streets of Crescent Derek Stein CELLO Noye’s Fludde (1957) and by Igor Stravin- City like angels in Sodom as they search Dave Tranchina BASS Under the Sky, Mr. Moon, Where’s the Lyrics in sky in his “musical play” for television, The for good people to justify sparing the city Philip Curtis ELECTRONICA Party, and additional lyrics in scenes 1, 2, and 3 by & LIVE PROCESSING Philip Littell. Used with permission of Philip Littell. Flood (1962). Of course, the rogues gal- from disaster. But the only people who pg 10 pg 3 those masters of 19th- and 20th-century could write Marie Laveau’s part so star- opera. LeBaron, like Wagner, relies on the tlingly low only for a contralto of Gwen- voices of the operatic tradition; but as in dolyn Brown’s range! – the collaborations Ashley’s operas, you’re just as liable to in Crescent City‘s realization occurred on hear those voices in pop, blues, jazz, rock, an even deeper level. The world premiere or experimental stylings. She abandons production, conceived and directed by the Wagnerian orchestra and, like Ashley, Yuval Sharon, engaged six visual artists combines her singers with smaller and to participate in the collaborative process more specialized forces of instruments by designing and building installation set and electronic sound, which also move pieces as the various locales of the opera's readily among stylistic genres; unlike Ash- action. Lighting, video, and sound design- ley, the instrumental and vocal parts are, ers also worked together in the develop- for the most part, as faithfully notated as ment of Crescent City. Furthermore, the the score of Parsifal. LeBaron also differs orchestra itself performed guided impro- from Ashley in that she is not a minimalist. visations at specific musical junctures, such Her music at certain privileged moments as the ever-shifting sheen it created to col- can become completely still or hushed or the fully notated piano and voice parts with simplicity or lost to the world, but she in the Homesick Woman’s Aria. has not walked away from contrast, drama, and story. Like Wagner, she aspires to cre- Hyperopera can also claim inspiration ate a repeatable theatrical drama that will from Harry Partch, a composer especially rivet an audience; but like Ashley, she frag- relevant to Anne LeBaron and Crescent ments her opera through a prism of video City. When Deadly Belle headlines at The work and performance freedoms and si- Chit Hole, her wheezy and woozy accom- multaneities. paniment is a chromelodeon: a pump or- gan retuned to Partch’s system of 43 tones Also like Ashley (and unlike Wagner), LeB- to the octave. LeBaron has also written for aron believes in collaboration. For Ashley, Partch instruments in her 1994 chamber collaboration took place among the imme- piece Southern Ephemera and is writing diate musicmakers: himself and the other for them in her newest opera, LSD: The vocalists, along with the instrumentalists Opera, an investigation into the historical/ and sound designers. But while LeBaron cultural ramifications of LSD. suitably tailored parts to her players – she pg 4 pg 9 This album, culled from live perfor- era’s narrative simultaneously sprawled how different sounds relate. This talent LeBaron’s concept of hyperopera goes mances of our sold-out world premiere throughout a 25,000 square foot ware- for bringing together elements of numer- further by breaking down the usual hier- production, is a document of artists who house, with live and pre-recorded ous musical genres and cultures, as in her archical structures that define the roles decided to take opera into their own video, lighting, and sound creating an recent Breathtails (2011) for voice, string of individuals on creative and production hands. immersive environment. The audience quartet, and shakuhachi, springs from LeB- teams, and shifting into a more lateral and When I accepted Anne’s work for could have fixed seats for the duration aron’s recognition of the relationships – inclusive collaborative arrangement. inclusion in New York City Opera’s VOX of the performance or walk around the compositional, gestural, spiritual – through which seemingly disparate things connect For most of the 20th century, the cost Showcase in 2005, Anne and I both warehouse.
Recommended publications
  • River Songs (2002) and the Brief Light (2010)
    An Analysis and Performance Manual of John Musto's Chamber Music for Baritone: River Songs (2002) and the Brief Light (2010) Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Guenther, Gregory Patrick Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 03:49:35 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/595632 AN ANALYSIS AND PERFORMANCE MANUAL OF JOHN MUSTO’S CHAMBER MUSIC FOR BARITONE: RIVER SONGS (2002) AND THE BRIEF LIGHT (2010) by Gregory Patrick Guenther _______________________ Copyright © Gregory Patrick Guenther 2015 A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF MUSIC In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2015 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Document Committee, we certify that we have read the document prepared by Gregory Guenther entitled An Analysis and Performance Manual of John Musto’s Chamber Music for Baritone: River Songs (2002) and The Brief Light (2010) and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the document requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts. _______________________________________________________Date: 12/3/2015 Kristin Dauphinais _______________________________________________________Date: 12/3/2015 William Andrew Stuckey _______________________________________________________Date: 12/3/2015 Jay Rosenblatt Final approval and acceptance of this document is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the document to the Graduate College.
    [Show full text]
  • 18 Contemporary Opera and the Failure of Language
    18 CONTEMPORARY OPERA AND THE FAILURE OF LANGUAGE Amy Bauer Opera after 1945 presents what Robert Fink has called ‘a strange series of paradoxes to the historian’.1 The second half of the twentieth century saw new opera houses and companies pro- liferating across Europe and America, while the core operatic repertory focused on nineteenth- century works. The collapse of touring companies confined opera to large metropolitan centres, while Cold War cultural politics often limited the appeal of new works. Those new works, whether written with political intent or not, remained wedded historically to ‘realism, illusion- ism, and representation’, as Carolyn Abbate would have it (as opposed to Brechtian alienation or detachment).2 Few operas embraced the challenge modernism presents for opera. Those few early modernist operas accepted into the canon, such as Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, while revolu- tionary in their musical language and subject matter, hew closely to the nature of opera in its nineteenth-century form as a primarily representational medium. As Edward Cone and Peter Kivy point out, they bracket off that medium of representation – the character singing speech, for instance, in an emblematic translation of her native tongue – to blur diegetic song, ‘operatic song’ and a host of other conventions.3 Well-regarded operas in the immediate post-war period, by composers such as Samuel Barber, Benjamin Britten, Francis Poulenc and Douglas Moore, added new subjects and themes while retreating from the formal and tonal challenges of Berg and Schoenberg.
    [Show full text]
  • News Release
    news release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS CONTACT: Maggie Stapleton, Jensen Artists September 25, 2019 646.536.7864 x2; [email protected] American Composers Orchestra Announces 2019-2020 Season Derek Bermel, Artistic Director & George Manahan, Music Director Two Concerts presented by Carnegie Hall New England Echoes on November 13, 2019 & The Natural Order on April 2, 2020 at Zankel Hall Premieres by Mark Adamo, John Luther Adams, Matthew Aucoin, Hilary Purrington, & Nina C. Young Featuring soloists Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano; JIJI, guitar; David Tinervia, baritone & Jeffrey Zeigler, cello The 29th Annual Underwood New Music Readings March 12 & 13, 2020 at Aaron Davis Hall at The City College of New York ACO’s annual roundup of the country’s brightest young and emerging composers EarShot Readings January 28 & 29, 2020 with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra May 5 & 6, 2020 with Houston Symphony Third Annual Commission Club with composer Mark Adamo to support the creation of Last Year ACO Gala 2020 honoring Anthony Roth Constanzo, Jesse Rosen, & Yolanda Wyns March 4, 2020 at Bryant Park Grill www.americancomposers.org New York, NY – American Composers Orchestra (ACO) announces its full 2019-2020 season of performances and engagements, under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel, Music Director George Manahan, and President Edward Yim. ACO continues its commitment to the creation, performance, preservation, and promotion of music by 1 American Composers Orchestra – 2019-2020 Season Overview American composers with programming that sparks curiosity and reflects geographic, stylistic, racial and gender diversity. ACO’s concerts at Carnegie Hall on November 13, 2019 and April 2, 2020 include major premieres by 2015 Rome Prize winner Mark Adamo, 2014 Pulitzer Prize winner John Luther Adams, 2018 MacArthur Fellow Matthew Aucoin, 2017 ACO Underwood Commission winner Hilary Purrington, and 2013 ACO Underwood Audience Choice Award winner Nina C.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Booklet
    Cast in order of appearence Gordon Getty (born 1933) PLUMP JACK Henry IV / Pistol - Christopher Robertson, Bass-baritone Hal (Henry V) - Nikolai Schukoff, Tenor Libretto by the composer after Shakespeare (Henry IV Part 1 & 2, Henry V) Opera in Two Acts Boy / Clarence - Melody Moore, Soprano Bardolph / Chief Justice - Nathaniel Webster, Baritone Concert Version (Scene 1 and Scene 8 of the opera are not included in the concert version) Falstaff - Lester Lynch, Baritone First Traveler - Diana Kehrig, Mezzo-soprano Act One 1 Overture 11. 18 Second Traveler / Second Captain/ Warwick - Bruce Rameker, Baritone 2 Scene 2: “Hal’s Memory” 3. 27 Hostess (Nell Quickly) - Susanne Mentzer, Mezzo-soprano (Henry IV, Hal) Shallow / First Captain - Robert Breault, Tenor 3 Scene 3: “Gad’s Hill” 3. 35 Davy - Chester Patton, Bass-baritone (Falstaff, Hal, Boy, 1st Traveler, 2nd Traveler, Bardolph, Pistol) 4 Scene 4: “Clarence” 5. 16 Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Henry IV, Chief Justice, Clarence) Chorus Master: Florian Helgath 5 Scene 5: “Boar’s Head Inn” 9. 00 (Falstaff, Hal, Hostess, Boy, Pistol, 1st Captain, 2nd Captain ) Münchner Rundfunkorchester Concertmaster: Olga Pogorelova Act Two 6 Scene 6: “Shallow’s Orchard” 5. 04 conducted by: Ulf Schirmer (Shallow, Falstaff) 7 Scene 7: “Jerusalem” 6. 33 Recording Venue: Studio One of the Bavarian Radio Munich, May 2011 (Clarence, Chief Justice, Henry IV, Warwick, Hal, Chorus) Executive Producers: Lisa Delan (Rork Music), Veronika Weber & Florian Lang (Bavarian 8 Scene 9: “Pistol’s News” 4. 47 Radio), Job Maarse (PentaTone Music) (Davy, Falstaff, Bardolph, Shallow, Pistol, Chorus) Recording Producer: Job Maarse 9 Scene 10: “Banishment” 10.
    [Show full text]
  • Kent Tritle's 2014-15 Season
    Contact: Jennifer Wada 718-855-7101 [email protected] KENT TRITLE’S 2014-15 SEASON: Verdi’s Requiem in a Unique Collaboration Early and New Music in Great Music in a Great Space at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine Tenth Anniversary Season with Oratorio Society of New York World Premieres of Works by Filas, Gilbertson, Paterson, with Musica Sacra Manhattan School of Music Chamber Choir at The Metropolitan Museum of Art More New York Synergy: Musica Sacra with Orchestra of St. Luke’s A performance of Verdi’s Requiem that is a tripartite collaboration highlights the 2014-15 season of Kent Tritle, called “New York’s reigning choral conductor” by The New York Times. In an event emblematic of Kent’s multiple roles in the city’s choral life, he will conduct a performance of the massive work by the Oratorio Society of New York, of which he is Music Director, and the Symphony and Symphonic Chorus of the Manhattan School of Music, where he is Director of Choral Activities, in the grand space of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where he is Director of Cathedral Music and Organist – with a new choral configuration that features the more-than-250 singers on risers in the cathedral’s Great Choir space. The program is perhaps Tritle’s most ambitious yet at the Cathedral, where he marks his fourth season in 2014-15 also with concerts of early music and contemporary works by the professional Cathedral Choir, and holiday programs. The season also marks Kent’s tenth anniversary as Music Director of the 200-voice avocational Oratorio Society of New York (he has just renewed his contract through 2016-17), which he will lead in three Carnegie Hall concerts of grand choral repertoire; it is also his eighth season as Music Director of the acclaimed professional chorus Musica Sacra, and they will highlight their season with a program of three world premieres.
    [Show full text]
  • CARMINA BURANA Thursday, March 28 at 7 P.M
    CLASSICAL SERIES 2018/19 SEASON CARMINA BURANA Thursday, March 28 at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 29-30 at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 31 at 2 p.m. RYAN McADAMS, guest conductor SARAH KIRKLAND Something for the Dark SNIDER AUGUSTA READ EOS (Goddess of the Dawn), a Ballet for Orchestra THOMAS I. Dawn V. Spring Rain II. Daybright and Firebright VI. Golden Chariot III. Shimmering VII. Sunlight IV. Dreams and Memories INTERMISSION ORFF Carmina burana Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi (Fortune, Empress of the World) Part I. Primo vere (In Springtime) Uf dem anger (On the lawn) Part II. In taberna (In the Tavern) Part III. Cour d’amours (The Court of Love) Blanziflor et Helena (Blanchefleur and Helen) Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi JENNIFER ZETLAN, soprano | NICHOLAS PHAN, tenor | HUGH RUSSELL, baritone KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY CHORUS, CHARLES BRUFFY, chorus director LAWRENCE CHILDREN’S CHOIR, CAROLYN WELCH, artistic director *See program insert for Carmina Burana text and translation. The 2018/19 season is generously sponsored by Friday’s concert sponsored by SHIRLEY and BARNETT C. HELZBERG, JR. JIM AND JUDY HEETER Saturday’s concert sponsored by The Classical Series is sponsored by CAROL AND JOHN KORNITZER Guest Conductor Ryan McAdams sponsored by ANN MARIE TRASK Additional support provided by R. Crosby Kemper, Jr. Fund Podcast available at kcsymphony.org KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY 43 Kansas City Symphony PROGRAM NOTES By Ken Meltzer SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER (b. 1973) Something for the Dark (2016) 12 minutes Piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, chimes, crotales, cymbals, glockenspiel, marimba, sleigh bells, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tom-toms, triangle, vibraphone, harp, piano, celesta and strings.
    [Show full text]
  • Boris Godunov Biographies
    Boris Godunov Biographies Cast Stanislav Trofimov (Boris Godunov) began his operatic career in the Chelyabinsk Opera House in 2008, and went on to perform leading bass roles at the Ekaterinburg Opera House (the Bolshoi Theatre) and other opera theaters across Russia. He became a soloist at the Mariinsky Theatre in 2016. Mr. Trofimov has portrayed numerous leading roles including Boris Godunov (Boris Godunov), Philip II (Don Carlos), Procida (I vespri siciliani), Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra), Konchak (Prince Igor), Ivan Susanin (Life of the Tsar), Sobakin (Tsar’s Bride), Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia), Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Ferrando (Il Trovatore), Don Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro), and Old Hebrew (Samson et Dalila). Recent performances include Procida in Mariinsky’s new production of I vespri siciliani, Zaccaria in Nabucco at the opening of Arena di Verona Summer Festival, a tour with the Bolshoi Theatre as Archbishop in The Maid of Orleans in France, and performances at the Salzburg Festival as Priest in the new production of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. Mr. Trofimov will appear at the 2018 Salzburg Festival and at Teatro alla Scala in 2019. These performances mark his San Francisco Symphony debut. This season, Cuban-American mezzo-soprano Eliza Bonet (Fyodor) made her debut at the Kennedy Center as a member of the Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, singing the role of Bradamante in Handel’s Alcina. As a part of this season’s nationwide Bernstein at 100 celebrations, Ms. Bonet performs as Paquette in Candide with the WNO, and with National Symphony Orchestra in West Side Story.
    [Show full text]
  • Vocal Solos and Opera
    vocal solos and opera Complete Catalog STEPHEN CHATMAN AND TARA WOHLBERG Choir Practice Companion Products Soloists, SATB, and Piano Choral Part, 7.0656 Moderately Diffi cult Study Score, 7.0657 7.0655, Piano/Vocal Score $35.00 Libretto, 7.0669 CONTENTS New & Featured Opera 3 One Act Opera 5 New CD from David Conte Full Length Opera 8 Everyone Sang New Art Songs 10–11 Vocal Music of David Conte is two-disc set includes recordings of Vocal Solos - Complete Listing 12 David Conte’s most recent vocal composi- tion o erings from collections “American Death Ballads;” “ ree Poems of Christina Opera Anthologies 22 Rossetti;” “Love Songs;” “Everyone Sang;” “Lincoln;” “Sexton Songs;” and “Requiem Opera - Complete Listing 23 Songs.” CD182 $24.95 Opera Scenes 24 Opera Anthologies Opera Aria Anthology, Opera Aria Anthology, Volume 1: (Soprano) Volume 2: (Mezzo-Sopra- Compiled by Craig W. Hanson no) Edited by Stanley M. Ho man Compiled by Craig W. Hanson Arias for soprano from operas by David Edited by Stanley M. Ho man Conte, Daron Hagen, Libby Larsen, Arias for mezzo-soprano from operas Henry Mollicone, Ronald Perera, Conrad by David Conte, Daron Hagen, Henry Susa, and Robert Ward. 152 pages. Mollicone, Douglas Moore, Ronald Perera, 6000 $33.60 Conrad Susa, and Robert Ward. 142 pages. 6001 $33.60 Opera Aria Anthology, Opera Aria Anthology, Volume 3: (Tenor) Volume 4: (Baritone) Compiled by Craig W. Hanson Compiled by Craig W. Hanson Edited by Stanley M. Ho man Edited by Stanley M. Ho man Arias for tenor from operas by David Arias for baritone from operas by David Conte, Henry Mollicone, Ronald Perera, Conte, John David Earnest, Daron Hagen, Conrad Susa, and Robert Ward.
    [Show full text]
  • Creators in Concert: Gregory Spears Program
    creators in concert GREGORY SPEARS NATIONAL OPERA CENTER | February 7, 2019 | 7:00 p.m. AMERICA Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano | Aaron Blake, tenor Sidney Outlaw, baritone | Dimitri Dover, piano PROGRAM “Aquehonga” (2017) A song with words by Raphael Allison Jennifer Johnson Cano “Last Night” from Fellow Travelers (2016) An opera based on the novel by Thomas Mallon Libretto by Greg Pierce Aaron Blake “English Teacher’s Aria” from Paul’s Case (2013) An opera based on the short story by Willa Cather Libretto by Kathryn Walat and Gregory Spears Jennifer Johnson Cano, Aaron Blake, Sidney Outlaw “Our Very Own Home” from Fellow Travelers (2016) An opera based on the novel by Thomas Mallon Libretto by Greg Pierce Sidney Outlaw “Fearsome This Night” from Wolf-in-Skins (2013) A dance-opera based on Welsh mythology Libretto by Christopher Williams Jennifer Johnson Cano CONVERSATION WITH MARC A. SCORCA, PRESIDENT/CEO, OPERA AMERICA Jennifer Johnson Cano and Aaron Blake appear courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera. [Headshot, credit: Rebecca Allan] ABOUT THE COMPOSER GREGORY SPEARS is a New York-based composer whose music has been called “astonishingly beautiful” (The New York Times), “coolly entrancing” (The New Yorker) and “some of the most beautifully unsettling music to appear in recent memory” (The Boston Globe). In recent seasons he has been commissioned by Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cincinnati Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Seraphic Fire, The Crossing, BMI and Concert Artists Guild, Vocal Arts DC, New York Polyphony, The New York International Piano Competition, and the JACK Quartet. Spears’ most recent evening-length opera, Fellow Travelers, written in collaboration with Greg Pierce, premiered at Cincinnati Opera in 2016 and has since been seen at the PROTOTYPE Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Minnesota Opera.
    [Show full text]
  • An Analytical Study of the Britten Violin Concerto, Op.15 Shr-Han Wu University of South Carolina
    University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 2017 An Analytical Study of the Britten Violin Concerto, Op.15 Shr-Han Wu University of South Carolina Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Music Performance Commons Recommended Citation Wu, S.(2017). An Analytical Study of the Britten Violin Concerto, Op.15. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/4131 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE BRITTEN VIOLIN CONCERTO, OP.15 by Shr-Han Wu Bachelor of Music National Sun Yat-sen University, 2009 Master of Music University of South Carolina, 2011 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Performance School of Music University of South Carolina 2017 Accepted by: Donald Portnoy, Major Professor Craig Butterfield, Committee Member William Terwilliger, Committee Member Sarah Williams, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Shr-Han Wu, 2017 All Rights Reserve ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to Boosey&Hawkes for the kind permission to use Violin Concerto, Op. 15 by Benjamin Britten © Copyright 1940 by Hawkes & Son (London) Ltd., Three Pieces from “Suite, Op. 6” by Benjamin Britten © Copyright 1940 by Hawkes & Son (London) Ltd., and “Passacaglia” from Peter Grimes, Op. 33 by Benjamin Britten. © Copyright 1940 by Hawkes & Son (London) Ltd.
    [Show full text]
  • Rod Gilfry Makes Matt Aucoin's 'Crossing' Sing
    OPERA REVIEW Rod Gilfry makes Matt Aucoin’s ‘Crossing’ sing GRETJEN HELENE/ART Rod Gilfry as Walt Whitman and Alexander Lewis as a wounded soldier in Matthew Aucoin’s “Crossing.” By Jeffrey Gantz GLOBE CORRESPONDENT JUNE 01, 2015 Walt Whitman was not a composer, but he did hear America singing, and in his youth the poet was enamored of Italian bel canto. He even averred that had it not been for Bellini and Donizetti, he could never have written “Leaves of Grass.” So there’s a logic to Matthew Aucoin’s choice of Whitman’s Civil War journals as the inspiration for his new opera, which is getting its world premiere from the American Repertory Theater at the Citi Shubert Theatre. “Crossing” is an ambitious work with much to recommend it, not least Rod Gilfry’s extraordinary performance as Whitman. At 25, Aucoin, a Medfield native and Harvard grad, has commissions from the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera, where he’s served as an assistant conductor. The subject of recent glowing features in The New York Times Magazine and The Wall Street Journal, he’s also an accomplished pianist and poet. His opera — for which he wrote both music and libretto, and which he is conducting at the Shubert — is part of the National Civil War Project, a multi-year, multi-city endeavor in commemoration of the war’s 150th anniversary. (Among the works the ART has already staged are the Lisps’ indie-rock musical “Futurity” and the first three parts of Pulitzer winner Suzan-Lori Parks’s “Father Comes Home From the Wars.”) CONTINUE READING BELOW ▼ “Crossing” is opera at its most elemental, something Whitman would have appreciated.
    [Show full text]
  • Crossingin CONCERT
    FREE! Paul Crewes Rachel Fine Plácido Domingo James Conlon Christopher Koelsch FOR ALL AGES Dance Artistic Director Managing Director Eli and Edythe Broad Richard Seaver Sebastian Paul and General Director Music Director Marybelle Musco Sundays President and CEO PRESENT with Debbie Allen & Friends Matthew Aucoin’s EVERY SECOND SUNDAY OF THE MONTH IN CONCERT ® Crossing Three-time Emmy Award- winner Debbie Allen is back for MUSIC AND LIBRETTO BY the third season running with Matthew Aucoin her wildly popular Dance inspired by the poetry and prose of Walt Whitman Sundays, an exhilarating series CONDUCTOR of FREE, outdoor dance events Matthew Aucoin for the whole family! Members of the LA Opera Orchestra May 13 | 12pm – 2pm Principal Cast (in order of vocal appearance) AFRICAN DANCE Accompanied by live ROD GILFRY...........................................................................WALT WHITMAN drummers. BRENTON RYAN ‡ ...............................................................JOHN WORMLEY June 10 | 5pm - 7pm DAVÓNE TINES * ............................................................FREDDIE STOWERS VOGUE LIV REDPATH † ...........................................................................MESSENGER Celebrate Pride and unleash your inner diva as you learn the * LA Opera debut LA Opera Off Grand and Matthew Aucoin’s basics of Voguing. † Member of LA Opera’s residency made possible by a generous grant from Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation July 8 | 5pm – 7pm ‡ Alumnus of LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program Additional support from Contemporary Opera Initiative SALSA SUNDAY chairpersons Barry and Nancy Sanders and a consortium Taught by Debbie Allen herself! PRODUCTION STAFF of generous donors STAGE MANAGER Erin Thompson-Janszen Crossing was commissioned by the American Repertory Theater. The A.R.T. also produced the August 12 | 5pm – 7pm work’s first production, in cooperation with Music Theatre Group.
    [Show full text]