FIVE BOROUGH SONGBOOK, VOLUME III at THE CHAPEL AT HEBREW UNION COLLEGE

FIVE BOROUGH SONGBOOK, VOL III

FRIDAY, OCT 21, 2022 | 7:00 PM

FLUSHING TOWN HALL
137-35 NORTHERN BLVD. | QUEENS

SATURDAY, OCT 22, 2022 | 7:00 PM

BRONX MUSIC HERITAGE CENTER LABORATORY
1303 LOUIS NIÑÉ BLVD | BRONX

SUNDAY, OCT 23, 2022 | 3:00 PM

THE CHAPEL AT HEBREW UNION COLLEGE
1 WEST 4TH ST | MANHATTAN

5BMF’s 2022-2023 Season kicks off with a bang this fall with the culmination of the Five Borough Songbook, Volume III‘s citywide tour!

A special co-production with ON SITE OPERA, this new cycle of fifteen songs, duets, and ensembles by fifteen composers was commissioned in honor of 5BMF’s 15th Anniversary and On Site Opera’s 10th Anniversary seasons, and marks the third installment of 5BMF’s critically-acclaimed quinquennial FIVE BOROUGH SONGBOOK project.

After its celebrated premieres in Brooklyn and Staten Island in April 2022, the Songbook returns on October 21, 22 and 23 for borough premieres in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx. We welcome back an all-star lineup of artists, including performers from the acclaimed vocal super-group KALEIDOSCOPE VOCAL ENSEMBLE — sopranos Nicole Joseph and Gitanjali Mathur, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte, tenor Haitham Haidar, and bass-baritone Jonathan Woody — as well as pianist Erika Switzer, violinist Pala Garcia, and cellist John Popham.

The Five Borough Songbook, Vol. III is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

PROGRAM

Featuring new works by Arianne Abela, Raquel Acevedo Klein, Kinan Azmeh, Colin Britt, Majel Connery, Laura Jobin-Acosta, Will Healy, Brian Lawlor, Jessica Meyer, Angélica Negrón, Nkeiru Okoye, Juri Seo, Aaron Siegel, Darian Donovan Thomas, and Jonathan Woody, the Songbook derives its inspiration from locations scattered throughout New York City — three songs for each borough — to create a mosaic of the city’s past, present and future. The Songbook’s texts are drawn from a variety of sources: written by the composers themselves; drawn from existing poetry by Nick Main, Amy Lowell, Joseph Tusiani, and Walt Whitman; or featuring new texts, including lyrics in Arabic by Firas Suleiman, in Spanish and English by Noel Quiñones, and in English by Tom Lee and Valerie Seeley.

THE BRONX
New York Revisited | Music by Will Healy, text by Joseph Tusiani
Mantras from Jesup | Music by Brian Lawlor, text by Valerie Seeley
The Rocking Chair | Music by Laura Jobin-Acosta, text by Noel Quiñones

MANHATTAN
TimesSquare | Music and text by Darian Donovan Thomas
We Met at the Symphony | Music and text by Nkeiru Okoye
by the bone dry fountain of an early winter | Music by Juri Seo, text by Nick Main

QUEENS
You Can Find Queens | Music by Arianne Abela, text by Tom Lee
Others Will See | Music by Colin Britt, text by Walt Whitman and Amy Lowell
The Sea Rolls Along | Music and text by Majel Connery

STATEN ISLAND
(The Island) | Music by Kinan Azmeh, text by Firas Sulaiman
Nonnas | Music and text by Jessica Meyer
Song of Fresh Kills | Music and text by Aaron Siegel

BROOKLYN
In Kings | Music by Jonathan Woody, texts by Petrus Stuyvesant and Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt from historical records
Between Two Islands | Music and text by Raquel Acevedo Klein
Hello Beautiful | Music and text by Angélica Negrón