Gotham Chamber Opera Announces Composer in Residence Program, Applications Due 7/18

Gotham Chamber Opera together with Opera Philadelphia and Music-Theatre Group is proud to announce the third track in the nation's first comprehensive, operatic Composer In Residence program. Funded initially by a $1.4 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the program has received an additional $330,000 from the foundation to provide a third professional development path for one of today's most promising opera composers, selected on a competitive basis. Applications are being accepted from June 20-July 18, 2013.

The program provides a highly individualized professional development path for today's most promising opera composers, fostering tomorrow's American operatic masterpieces through personalized creative development and intensive, hands-on composition opportunities.

"In its first two years, the Composer In Residence program has quickly grown into a model for a developing composer to hone his or her compositional voice and learn the crucial skills required to produce authentic new work," said David B. Devan, General Director & President of Opera Philadelphia. "With our partners and with the continued support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation we are helping to create future generations of great American opera composers."

The ideal Composer In Residence (CIR) will be eager to step beyond his or her musical comfort zones, and challenge preconceived notions of what opera and music can be. He or she will work zealously with the resident companies to take this timeless art form and infuse it with the technological, creative, and collaborative sensibilities most relevant to our time.

"Our aim is to choose the best candidate and tailor a comprehensive curriculum to develop his/her operatic gifts to the fullest while instilling an awareness of the exigencies of opera," said Neal Goren, Artistic Director of Gotham Chamber Opera.

The CIR will receive highly individualized opportunities to cultivate his/her skills in all aspects of opera production, from working one-on-one with librettists and dramaturges to workshops and scene treatments with world-class performers. The CIR will have exceptional access to observe and work hands-on in every aspect of creative development, production, and performance.

"Together our companies offer a smorgasbord of artistic experiences and production opportunities for those aspiring to write opera and music-theatre for new and known audiences," said Diane Wondisford, Producing Director of Music-Theatre Group.

The program is directed to composers of all professional levels who see opera as a significant new component of their future creative work, from emerging composers to midcareer artists moving into opera for the first time. There is no required creative output however composers are encouraged to make best use of resources by focusing their residency around one or more musical works. The resulting works may be considered for performance by the collaborators.

The program has proven to be an invaluable learning experience for the first two composers chosen for the role. Lembit Beecher (2011-2013), chosen during a competitive search in 2011, has completed two years of this three-year residency, while Missy Mazzoli (2012-2014), appointed in 2012, is completing her first season with the companies. The program has afforded each of them with a rare and in-depth understanding of the development and production of opera through integral involvement in the rehearsal process for multiple operas with the three companies.

This residency includes a yearly salary of $60,000 and benefits as well as substantial work and career development resources. Two years of the residency are funded, contingent upon appropriate progress, with the potential for a third year. This composer's term will begin September, 2013.

A more detailed description of the residency program may be found at www.operaphila.org/composers.

Gotham Chamber Opera, now on its 11th season, is the nation's leading opera company dedicated to the highest quality productions of chamber operas rarely performed today. Its mission is to produce vibrant, fully-staged productions of works from the Baroque era to the present that are intended for intimate venues. As the only company committed solely to producing chamber opera, Gotham has a unique brand that is recognized nationally.

Founded by conductor and Artistic Director Neal Goren, Gotham Chamber Opera debuted in 2001 as Henry Street Chamber Opera, with the American premiere of Mozart's IL SOGNO DI SCIPIONE and, in subsequent seasons, produced such works as Purcell's DIDO AND AENEAS, Milhaud's LES MALHEURS D'ORPHEE, Bohuslav Martinu's LES LARMES DU COUTEAU and HLAS LESA, Heinrich Sutermeister's DIE SCHWARZE SPINNE, Handel's ARIANNA IN CRETA, Benjamin Britten's ALBERT HERRING, and Rossini's IL SIGNOR BRUSCHINO. The company renamed itself Gotham Chamber opera and became an independent 501(c) 3 organization in 2003.

In its first ten years, Gotham Chamber Opera has produced eighteen operas, including seven American premieres, two New York City premieres and two world premieres. Gotham Chamber Opera has partnered with notable New York and US institutions, including Lincoln Center Festival and Spoleto USA for the 2005 production of Respighi's La bella dormente nel bosco; the Morgan Library and Museum for an evening of song cycles by Janácek and Dvorák, SCENES OF GYPSY LIFE, in 2008; and the American Museum of Natural History and the American Repertory Theater for 2010's production of Hadyn's IL MONDO DELLA LUNA, which featured lunar exploration video, developed by the Museum and NASA, and broadcast on the Hayden Planetarium's 180-degree dome.

Gotham Chamber Opera has earned a reputation for showcasing outstanding young singers alongside established professional and world-class directors and choreographers such as Mark Morris (the 2009 production of Hadyn's L'ISOLA DISABITATA), David Parsons (the New York stage premiere of Astor Piazzola's tango opera, MARIA DI BUENOS AIRES), Karole Armitage (the world premiere of ARIADNE UNHINGED), Basil Twist (LA BELLA), Christopher Alden (SCIPIONE and ARIANNA IN CRETA), and Diane Paulus (IL MONDO). In October 2010, Gotham Chamber Opera partnered with director Moisés Kaufmann and his company, Tectonic Theater Project, to co-produce the first United States stage performances of Xavier Montsalvatge's EL GATO CON BOTAS at the New Victory Theater.

For the 2011-2012 season, Gotham Chamber Opera celebrated its tenth anniversary with the world premiere of DARK SISTERS, by composer Nico Muhly, and a revival of Gotham's first production, Mozart's IL SOGNO DI SCIPIONE (1772). In March of 2013, Gotham Chamber Opera presented a sold-out run of Francesco Cavalli's ELIOGABALO at The Box on the Lower East Side.

Gotham Chamber Opera's 2013-2014 season will feature four new productions, including a world premiere and a U.S. premiere. The season begins with BADEN-BADEN 1927: a staged evening of four one-act operas that appeared together at the Baden-Baden Festival in 1927, from October 23 - November 1, 2013 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, followed by a co-production with Trinity Church, Marc-Antoine Charpentier's LA DESCENTE D'ORPHEE AUX ENFERS from January 1-5, 2014. The season continues in February with a double bill co-produced with and staged at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, consisting of IL COMBATTIMENTO DI TANCREDI E CLORINDA by Monteverdi, and a newly commissioned work, I HAVE NO STORIES TO TELL YOU, by Gotham Chamber Opera Composer-In-Residence Lembit Beecher. The United States premiere of THE RAVEN by Toshio Hosakawa at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater concludes the season in May 2014 as part of the New York Philharmonic's inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL.

For more information, visit www.gothamchamberopera.org.

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