Gertrude Stein's Plays Inspire a New Opera by Daniel Thomas Davis

The literary giant Gertrude Stein has inspired books, plays and paintings. Now her plays have inspired the composer Daniel ThomasA. Davis to create an opera. Along with librettist Adam Frank and director-designer Doug Fitch, Daniel ThomasA. Davis has adapted three of Stein's plays into a three-act fantastical opera. SIX. TWENTY. OUTRAGEOUS receives its world premiere on February 9 and 10 at 7:30 pm, and February 11 at 2:00 pm, at Symphony Space Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street, New York, NY.

When an oddball couple, their sassy housekeeper, a sewing machine, and a deranged radio all start singing, Stein's playful language is transformed into the ecstatic and uncannily beautiful new opera from composer Daniel ThomasA. Davis, librettist Adam Frank, and director-designer Doug Fitch. From a shopping expedition that turns into an erotic adventure to a presidential election party that goes prophetically and horribly wrong, Stein's genius for upending convention is made startlingly relevant to our own cultural and political moment.

This world premiere features an all-star lineup including vocalists Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek (former member of Anonymous 4), Ariadne Greif, and Andrew Fuchs, joined by the Momenta Quartet, pianist Dimitri Doverand musical director David Bloom.

SIX. TWENTY. OUTRAGEOUS is part of Symphony Space's Fuse Project and is supported by the Isaiah Sheffer Fund for New Initiatives, in partnership with American Opera Projects, and with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Tickets are $30 for general admission, $26 for Symphony Space members, and $20 for 30 and under with ID, and are available at SymphonySpace.org.

Composer Daniel ThomasA. Davis' wide range of musical activities has taken him from the stages of Carnegie Hall and the Royal Opera House to monasteries in the Horn of Africa to directing new-music festivals in the rural South. Praised as "ingenious" by The Guardian and for his "endless curiosity" by USA Today, he creates music singled out for its connection to the human voice and its "magnificent...and entirely original style of orchestration" (Lexington Herald Leader).

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