National Sawdust & The Manhattan School of Music to Present ORPHIC MOMENTS, 3/23-24

Orphic Moments, which will be presented on March 23 and 24 at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, is a unique, interdisciplinary, fully-staged production featuring the New York premiere of Matthew Aucoin's dramaticcantataThe Orphic Moment, followed by a special banquet for the audience that transitions into a performance of Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice. In a pioneering collaboration, The Manhattan School of Music and National Sawdust are co-producing Orphic Moments, with Douglas Fitch as director, Zack Winokur as choreographer, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, soprano Kiera Duffy and violinist Keir GoGwilt in leading roles; and Aucoin conducting the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra and Chorus. Fitch and James Beard award-winning chef Patrick Connolly will create the performative banquet that links the two musical works. Filmmaker Pix Talarico, projection designer Tim McLoraine, and dramaturg Cori Ellison complete the creative team.

The performances on March 23 and 24 begin at 7:00pm. National Sawdust is located at 80 North 6th Street in Brooklyn, NY. Tickets, which are $70 and include the feast, are available at 646-779-8455or online atwww.nationalsawdust.org.

Aucoin's work begins inside Orpheus's mind at the moment before he turns back to look at his wife Eurydice as he leads her out of the underworld. He knows that if he looks back, he will lose her forever, and the piece explores why he ultimately wasn't able to resist looking. Aucoin wrote the libretto as well as the music, which is scored for chamber ensemble. Anthony Roth Costanzo sings Orpheus, and Eurydice is given voice by the violin, played by Keir GoGwilt. Projections throughout will give the audience a feeling that they are constantly moving upward as the conflicted mythic hero ascends from Hades. The seventeen-minute work ends just as Orpheus fatefully turns around.

The performance segues directly into the overture for Orfeo ed Euridice, followed by a suite of Gluck's ballet music as the audience is served an Orphic feast that rewinds the action from Orpheus's moment of decision to the work's pre-curtain narrative. The food itself - half art, half dinner - will represent both the feast that celebrates Orpheus's marriage to Eurydice, and the poison in the snake bite that subsequently killed her. Orfeo ed Euridice will be staged with innovative projections that map the architecture of the space. Anthony Roth Costanzo and Kiera Duffy sing the title roles. Amor will be cast through auditions at the Manhattan School of Music.

Orphic Moments originated as a proposal by National Sawdust to Anthony Roth Costanzo to act as curator of a program in the newly opened performance space. Having sung the world premiere of Aucoin's cantata at the Peabody Essex Museum in 2014, Costanzo asked the composer to join him in assembling a team of artists to partner in creating a full evening length performance piece. Commenting on his curatorial role, Costanzo said, " I strongly believe that when people experience operas full tilt in an intimate setting like National Sawdust, it gives them the opportunity to connect to compelling aspects of the form they may not have encountered in larger theaters. In addition, the context allows us to create an immersive, interdisciplinary experience which incorporates music, dance, film, and food. Collaborating with Manhattan School of Music's fantastic orchestra and chorus has been integral to creating a project of this scope.

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