AOP Offers Free Opera In Fort Greene Park 6/21

AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS (AOP), "known for bringing cutting-edge vocal production to the masses," (New York) will present The Voice of Brooklyn: Opera and Song from the People's Republic, a free outdoor concert of new songs and beloved classics on the eve of the longest night of the year. The program will be presented as part of the annual Make Music New York Festival on Monday, June 21 from 6pm to 8pm at Fort Greene Park in Fort Greene, Brooklyn near the Visitors Center.The event is free. Info can be found at www.operaprojects.org.

The evening will feature the song "A Billionaire" by composer Gilda Lyons based on a poem by 12 year old Brooklyn native Tyler Forsythe and the first from the upcoming song cycle "Songs from Hood to Riches." The song cycle is a co-commission from American Opera Projects and The Walt Whitman Project and the second set of songs from I Hear America Singing, a new music initiative that commissions composers to create operatic songs based on the poetry and prose of Americans of all ages and all walks of life. The piece will be performed by mezzo-soprano Nicole Mitchell (New York City Opera's Margaret Garner, AOP's This Is the Rill Speaking) and will be followed by "The Calamus Songs," settings of Brooklyn poet Walt Whitman by composers Edward Ficklin, Stephen AnDrew Taylor, Clint Borzoni, and Jennifer Griffith, celebrating the 150-year anniversary of the celebrated poems.

Songs by contemporary opera composers Peter Hilliard, Rachel Peters, Kamala Sankaram, and Michael Rose will be featured alongside a collection of classic arias. The evening will also include performances by Sing for Hope and Opera on Tap, whose recent collaboration with AOP at Galapagos Art Space 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) Singers will include Scott Wheatley, Ana Mihanovic, Grant Clarke, Amy Van Roekel, Delea Shand, Amberleigh Aller and Anne Ricci.

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.

Company info:
American Opera Projects: www.operaprojects.org

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