AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS (AOP), "known for bringing cutting-edge vocal production to the masses," (New York) and OPERA ON TAP ("...raucous and sublime...un-elitist, imperfect, and fun..."- NY Sun) will present the second installment of its Opera Grows in Brooklyn series, an evening of all new opera scenes and songs from contemporary composers, including new music from David T. Little and the NYC premiere of Stefan Weisman's opera Fade. The show will be held on Friday, July 17 at 8pm at the Galapagos Art Center's new home in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood. Tickets are $20 ($15 for students/seniors). The Opera Grows in Brooklyn presentation at Galapagos in April 2009 represented the first time that opera took the stage in the institution's 11-year history and was called "an exciting new level of work for these young companies. Brooklyn and the rest of the city will benefit from future collaborations like these." (The Curator). Tickets and details on the performances will be available through www.galapagosartspace.com.
Fade, a one-act opera from composer Stefan Weisman (AOP's Darkling, 2006) and librettist David Cote, will have its New York premiere after runs in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and London where the music was described as "lyrical in a Philip-Glass-meets-John Adams vein" (Bloomberg News) and "very melodic, and... very approachable" (BBC Radio). The 25-minute opera follows the straining relationship of a young couple as they move into a new state-of-the-art house that is less hospitable than they imagined. The opera will be conducted by Stephen Black, and will feature baritone Jonathan Hays and Pamela Stein. The work was first developed by AOP in a 2008 libretto workshop.
Opera on Tap showcases its new contemporary ensemble New Brew in "The Witches of Bushwick (and other parts of NY)," an eclectic program of music from some of New York's not only great and living, but FEMALE composers. Incorporating Opera on Tap's casual trademark-style of bringing opera to new audiences, New Brew, be-costumed and stylized with an accent on the bawdy, presents a contemporary casserole of music by some of New York's greatest creatively-minded women. Performers will include Anne Ricci, Amberleigh Aller, CameRon Russell, Krista Wozniak, and Chris Berg. There will be broomsticks and, yes, there will be witchcraft. As a nonprofit organization, Opera on Tap's mission is to bring opera to new audiences by performing in bars, rock concert halls, and other alternative spaces. Born in the backroom of a Brooklyn divebar in 2005, Opera on Tap has gained national press recognition, several performance residencies across the city, and regional chapters in New Orleans, Chicago and Bloomington, IN.
The evening will also feature a 30-minute selection of music from composer David T. Little, including the premiere of new music from the opera (in-progress) Dog Days, described as "melodic and shapely" (The New York Times) during its May 2009 presentation of scenes at Carnegie Hall's "Osvaldo Golijov and Dawn Upshaw Workshop: Composing Song - For Composers and Singers." Based on a short story by Judy Budnitz with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, Dog Days investigates the psychology of a working class American family against a not-so-distant-future wartime scenario. Mr. Little will also present music from Soldier Songs (2006), "a dramatic, theatrical solo cantata that builds to a heartrending climax" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).
For over 20 years, American Opera Projects (AOP) has been creating, developing and presenting exclusively new American opera and music Theatre Projects that have appeared at the Royal Opera House, London, the Lincoln Center Festival, Skirball Center at NYU, the Guggenheim Museum, Symphony Space, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and many other national and international venues. AOP, based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, has presented over 15 world premiere operas including Lee Hoiby's This is the Rill Speaking (2008), Stefan Weisman's Darkling (2006), and Paula Kimper's Patience & Sarah (1998). Upcoming world premieres of AOP-developed projects include Séance on a Wet Afternoon, the first opera by Stephen Schwartz, at Opera Santa Barbara in 2009 and Jorge Martín's Before Night Falls at Fort Worth Opera in 2010.
