Boston-Based ODYSSEY OPERA Company to Present Inaugural Season this Fall

ODYSSEY OPERA, a new, Boston-based opera company dedicated to presenting adventurous repertoire, today announced its launch. Founded by Gil Rose, a leader of the classical music scene, Odyssey debuts Sunday, September 15th at Boston's Jordan Hall with an ambitious performance by world-class artists of Wagner's "Rienzi".

"It's such an exciting time to be establishing a new opera company," says Rose, Odyssey's Artistic and General Director. "Audiences are hungry to hear works they don't know and experience the full range of what the operatic medium has to offer. Odyssey Opera provides just that."

Odyssey strives to sate varying artistic appetites. While standard repertoire is not on the table, historical gems and neglected works by canonical composers are in addition to the production of new works in the future. Odyssey plans to present concert opera as well and staged chamber opera in a variety of venues and formats.

The launch comes just 18 months after Opera Boston shut its doors. Gil Rose, the former Artistic Director of Opera Boston (the longest tenured staff member) and current Artistic Director of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), staged a concert performance of Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage last fall which was originally slated to be performed by Opera Boston. The audience's enthusiastic response kick-started Rose's idea to launch a new opera company and subsequently fill the city's gap of innovative opera.

In Rose's words, "My thought was why not open a door when one closes? Odyssey Opera is dedicated to fostering exploration and discovery through its choice of important and eclectic repertoire and by upholding high performance standards."

Leading the vanguard in the classical music scene for the past two decades, Rose plays an integral role in creating new approaches to shifting the way audiences experience performing arts. According to the Boston Globe, "he's some kind of genius." His track record ranges from founding the highly regarded BMOP and its Grammy-nominated record label, BMOP/sound, to serving as Artistic Director of both Opera Boston and the annual Monadnock Music Festival in New Hampshire, as well as programming the Ditson New Music Festival, and the Opera Unlimited Festival.

Founded in 2013 by Artistic Director/Conductor Gil Rose, Odyssey Opera presents adventurous and eclectic works that affirm opera as a powerful expression of the human experience. Its world-class artists perform the operatic repertoire from its historic beginnings through lesser-known masterpieces to contemporary new works and commissions in a variety of formats and venues. Odyssey Opera sets standards of high musical and theatrical excellence and innovative programming to advance the operatic genre beyond the familiar and into undiscovered territory. Odyssey Opera takes its audience on a journey to places they've never been before. www.odysseyopera.org

Gil Rose is a conductor helping to shape the future of classical music. His dynamic performances and many recordings have garnered international critical praise. In 1996, Rose founded the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the foremost professional orchestra dedicated exclusively to performing and recording symphonic music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Under his leadership, BMOP's unique programming and high performance standards have attracted critical acclaim and earned the orchestra thirteen ASCAP awards for adventurous programming as well as the John S. Edwards Award for Strongest Commitment to New American Music.

Rose maintains a busy schedule as a guest conductor on both the opera and symphonic world. He made his Tanglewood debut in 2002 and in 2003 he debuted with the Netherlands Radio Symphony as part of the Holland Festival. He has led the American Composers Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and the National Orchestra of Porto and has made several appearances with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. He has curated the Fromm concerts at Harvard University and also served as the Artistic Director of the Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art.

Rose recently partnered with The American Repertory Theatre and the MIT Media Lab to create the world premiere of composer Tod Machover's Death and the Powers, directed by Diane Paulus. He conducted this multi-media work at its World Premiere at the Opera Garnier in Monte Carlo, Monaco in September 2010 and also led its United States premiere at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in March 2011, as well as its Chicago Premiere the following month at Chicago Opera Theatre.

An active recording artist, Rose's extensive discography includes world premiere recordings of music by Louis Andriessen, Derek Bermel, John Cage, Robert Erickson, Lukas Foss, Charles Fussell, Michael Gandolfi, John Harbison, Lee Hyla, David Lang, Tod Machover, Steven Mackey, Steven Paulus, David Rakowski, Bernard Rands, George Rochberg, Elena Ruehr, Gunther Schuller, Reza Vali, and Evan Ziporyn on such labels as Albany, Arsis, Cantaloupe, Chandos, ECM, Innova, Naxos, New World, and BMOP/sound, the Grammy-nominated label for which he serves as Executive Producer. His recordings have appeared on the year-end "Best of" lists of The New York Times, Time Out New York, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, American Record Guide, NPR, and Downbeat Magazine.

Over the past decade, Rose has also built a reputation as one of the country's most inventive and versatile opera conductors. The conductor joined Opera Boston as its Music Director in 2003. In 2010, he was appointed the company's first Artistic Director.

Under his leadership, Opera Boston experienced exponential growth and was acknowledged as one of the most important and innovative companies in America. Rose led Opera Boston in several national and New England premieres including: Shostakovich's The Nose, Weber's Der Freischütz and Hindemith's Cardillac and conducted such luminaries as Stephanie Blythe, Ewa Podle?, James Maddalena and Sanford Sylvan in signature roles. In 2009, Rose led the world premiere of Zhou Long's Madame White Snake which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2011.

During his tenure at Opera Boston, Rose has also served as the Artistic Director of Opera Unlimited, a contemporary opera festival which he also founded. With Opera Unlimited, he led the world premiere of Elena Ruehr's Toussaint Before the Spirits, the New England premiere of Thomas Ades' Powder Her Face, as well as the revival of John Harbison's Full Moon in March and the North American premiere of Peter Eötvös'Angels in America to critical acclaim.

In 2007, Rose was awarded Columbia University's prestigious Ditson Award as well as an ASCAP Concert Music award for his exemplary commitment to new American music. He is a three time Grammy Award nominee.

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