Rhymes With Opera Presents Its Annual Opera Potluck Salon

Rhymes With Opera will present excerpts from The Impossible She in a special preview performance as part of the Rhymes With Opera Salon on Saturday, March 16, 2019 at the Areté Gallery (67 West Street, Brooklyn). Doors open at 7pm, performances begin at 7:30pm. $10 suggested donation.

Since 2012, the annual Rhymes With Opera Salon has brought together local composers and artists to present works-in-progress in an informal, friendly, collaborative environment. In addition to excerpts from The Impossible She performed by the Rhymes With Opera ensemble singers, this Salon will also feature performances by Anna Roberts-Gevalt (multi-instrumentalist and composer), Matthew Sullivan (composer), and Max Duykers (composer) with Zen Wu (soprano).

Rhymes With Opera will present the World Premiere of The Impossible She at 124 Bank Street Theatre, 124 Bank St, New York, NY, from May 10-18, 2019 at 8pm. General admission tickets are $20, VIP tickets are $50 (includes special VIP reception with artists at 6:45pm, for 5/10 and 5/17 performances only) and may be purchased online at www.rhymeswithopera.org. For more information, visit www.rhymeswithopera.org/impossible.

The Impossible She dramatizes the relationship between two women who found each other amidst a complicated world-a world where men in positions of power have told them, in one way or another, that their minds and bodies have little value. One of these women is Eleanor Roosevelt, who is about to become the First Lady of the United States. The other is Lorena Hickok (or Hick, as everyone calls her), a feisty journalist assigned to introduce Eleanor Roosevelt to the world.

Fantastically told through metaphysical poetry, fragments of newspaper accounts, intimate letters, and Depression-era ballads, the opera retells these women's stories as a classic love triangle - between Eleanor, Hick, and a composite character known simply as The Outside World. Ultimately, the love that Eleanor and Hick share for this Outside World-an especially troubled world that desperately needs them-threatens to pull the two apart.

The Impossible She features RWO founding ensemble members Elisabeth Halliday, Bonnie Lander, and Robert Maril. Stage director Laine Rettmer and scenic designer Andrea Merkx (who both helped create RWO's 10th anniversary production Rumpelstiltskin) return to create this new production for the company along with conductor George Lam. The performance will also feature a special world premiere performance of Colin Read's concert work On Loneliness and Solitude, written specifically for RWO's ensemble singers.

Rhymes With Opera (RWO) is a New York-based ensemble of performers and composers that expands the repertory of contemporary opera by commissioning, developing, and staging new chamber works.

Founded in 2007, Rhymes With Opera includes founding company members Ruby Fulton (composer), Elisabeth Halliday (soprano), George Lam (composer), Bonnie Lander (soprano), and Robert Maril (baritone). During the 2012-2013 season, Rhymes With Opera expanded to include a house band, the Rhymes With Orchestra, a chamber ensemble comprised of some of this generation's most exciting contemporary instrumentalists. With the addition of the RWOrchestra, RWO has become a self-contained contemporary opera machine, commissioning and producing works that can be performed whole-cloth by the company.

Since 2007, RWO has commissioned more than 17 new operas, ranging from one-minute "signature" pieces to evening-length productions. New operas commissioned and produced by RWO include Travis Sullivan's Three Modern Pieces, Thomas Limbert's Numbers / Dates, Jenny Olivia Johnson's Book of Gazes, Kathleen Bader's Leads, Douglas Buchanan's Goblin Market, David Smooke's Criminal Element, Adam Matlock's Red Giant, and Erik Spangler's Cantata For A Loop Trail, an outdoor hiking opera set in Gwynn Falls Leakin Park in Baltimore and Inwood Hill Park in New York City.

RWO has performed in Baltimore venues including Area 405, the 2640 Space, the City Arts Gallery and the Wind-Up Space, and in NYC venues including Roulette, the Cornelia Street Café, the National Opera Center, JACK, and the City University of New York. Since 2014, RWO has regularly presented its mainstage productions in the intimate 124 Bank Street Theatre in New York City. www.rhymeswithopera.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.