AOP Presents THE PREMIERE OF THE NEXT GREAT MASTERWORK, 7/9

Two Brooklyn opera companies, AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS (AOP) and OPERA ON TAP (OOT), will present the fifth installment of its Opera Grows in Brooklyn series, an evening of three 30-minute opera scenes and songs. The evening will feature scenes from Removable Parts, a music-theater cycle from composer and singer/songwriter Corey Dargel; Daniel Felsenfeld's new one-act opera The Bloody Chamber, based on an Angela Carter novella; and Brooklyn Poets: Past and Present, showcasing new songs based on the writings of neighborhood poets. The show will be held on Friday, July 9 at 8pm at Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood. Tickets are $20 ($15 for students/seniors) in advance at www.galapagosartspace.com and $25 at the door.

Opera Grows in Brooklyn is an ongoing collaboration between American Opera Projects, "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), that presents three 30-minute selections of songs and scenes from contemporary composers in a hip, cabaret-style atmosphere. Audiences have a chance to meet the artists and composers after the performance.

"You never really know if you'll be there for the premiere of the next great masterwork by the next great composer, and if you aren't, well, the beer is still cold," the opera blog Parterrebox declared at the last Opera Grows in Brooklyn. The inaugural performance of Opera Grows in Brooklyn at Galapagos in April 2009 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). Past Opera Grows in Brooklyn performances have featured music by Nico Muhly, Tom Cipullo, David T. Little, Christopher Berg, and Jack Perla and performances by David Adam Moore, Andrew Drost, Abigail Fischer, Lauren Worsham, Jonathan Hays, and Daisy Press.

American Opera Projects begins the evening with Brooklyn Poets: Past and Present, showcasing new songs based on the writings of neighborhood poets. The Calamus Edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass caused a sensation when it appeared in 1860. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of this revolutionary work of art, AOP and the Walt Whitman Project asked a select group of composers to create new songs set to these poems. Selections from The Calamus Songs by composers Andrew Staniland and Daniel Felsenfeld and sung by soprano Adrienne Danrich, will be followed by Songs from Hood to Riches, a selection of new songs by Gilda Lyons based on poetry by three Brooklyn Boys - Keanu Stowe (age 7), Tristan Regist (10), and Tyler Forsythe (12). The songs, performed by mezzo Nicole Mitchell and pianist Kelly Horsted, are the second cycle of new works to come out of I Hear America Singing, a new initiative by AOP and the Walt Whitman Project that commissions composers to set to music the voices of ordinary Americans, and in particular Brooklynites.

Composer and singer/songwriter Corey Dargel and pianist Kathleen Supové will perform songs from Dargel's Removable Parts, a music-theater piece about love and voluntary amputation. Dargel based his original lyrics on documented case-studies of wannabe-amputees. His characters' idiosyncratic behaviors and strange desires are gradually subsumed into larger issues of disconnection and longing. As they sing their songs, you may be surprised to find your heart breaking for them. The New York Times theater and dance critic, Claudia LaRocco, calls Removable Parts "almost perversely pleasurable... Amputation, especially when it's self-imposed, is a loaded and problematic metaphor. Mr. Dargel and company handle it with an intelligent grace that is as moving as it is impressive." Removable Parts won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Performance-Art Production and was nominated for Best Solo Performer (Corey Dargel) and Best Director (Emma Griffin).

Presented by Opera on Tap, The Bloody Chamber is composer Daniel Felsenfeld's adaptation of the 1979 novella by Angela Carter, a feminist retelling of Bluebeard set in decadent fin de siècle France. The obsessed and murderous Marquis has married Dora, a young soprano, and spirited her away to his castle in Brittany. Over the course of the darkly humorous piece, Dora transforms from ingénue to infamously disobedient wife -- egged on by a ghostly chorus of her slaughtered predecessors. Pulitzer-Prize-Winning Composer John Corigliano writes: "Committed as strongly to freshness as to intelligibility, Daniel Felsenfeld composes music that's strong, unusual, intelligent, and considerably skilled." Libretto by Elizabeth Isadora Gold. Starring Indre Viskontas, Ross Benoliel, and Amanda Villegas with musical direction by Jennifer Peterson of operamission and stage direction by Sarah Stern of The Vineyard Theatre.

"Galapagos is about to become New York City's first LEED-certified, "green" cultural building. Director Robert Elmes is adding opera to a space known best for its Obie Award winning, progressive programming," says AOP General Director Charles Jarden. "We think it's not just cool for opera to be in a spectacular space like Galapagos, it's essential for creating new music that connects to audiences. Opera away from opera houses is the best way for the genre to thrive and grow. It is economically smart and creatively daring and the voices sound great to both new listeners and fans. If one audience member walks out with an interest in discovering music by living composers, we'll know we are on the right track."

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 productions of AOP-developed projects include Séance on a Wet Afternoon, the first opera by Stephen Schwartz, at New York City Opera in April 2011 and the world premieres of Jorge Martín's Before Night Falls at Fort Worth Opera in 2010 and Tarik O'Regan's Heart of Darkness at The Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio in 2011.

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, Ann Arbor, MI, and most recently Atlanta. In addition to Opera Grows in Brooklyn, OOT hosts a new music concert series called New Brew at Barbes in Brooklyn the first Friday of every other month and annually co-produces the critically acclaimed 21c Liederaband in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects and VisionIntoArt. 21c Liederabend was named best of 2009 in TimeOut NY in opera and classical by music editor Steve Smith.

Company info:
American Opera Projects: www.operaprojects.org
Opera on Tap: www.operaontap.com

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