FRESHLY BREWED RETURNS TO OPERA AMERICA!
ALT’s Freshly Brewed series returns to OPERA America this season. These informal concerts feature performances of works-in-progress from Resident Artists, master classes with guest artist mentors; as well as provocative discussions with some of the most exciting writers working in American opera today.
Freshly Brewed events take place on Sundays at 1:00 PM, and include a light brunch with the featured artists on each program. Advance purchase is required for all Freshly Brewed events. Tickets for each event are $20, and are available online at www.smarttix.com or by calling (212) 868-4444. Due to limited seating capacity at OPERA America, tickets are strictly limited and will not be sold on the day of the event. OPERA America is located at 330 Seventh Avenue (between 28th and 29th).
DRAMATIZING HISTORY WITH ANTHONY DAVIS
On Sunday, February, 26th, 2012, internationally acclaimed composer Anthony Davis hosts a concert and exploration of dramatizing history on the opera stage. Davis is known around the globe for his exciting works that draw from the lives of historical figures, including X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Tania, Amistad, and Wakonda’s Dream. This Freshly Brewed event will be the culmination of Davis’ annual winter residency at ALT, during which composers and librettists in the CLDP explore the challenges of dramatizing historic figures in opera. Guest singers from the country’s leading opera houses join us for a program of newly written scenes based on real-life figures past and present.
Please click HERE for more information and to buy tickets to Dramatizing History with Anthony Davis.
THE LIVING LIBRETTO
On Sunday, April 29th, 2012, join us for a libretto reading of four new one-act operas being written by ALT Resident Artists. All four operas will be performed in concert as part of Opera in Eden on June 25th, 2012 at Symphony Space, but during this Freshly Brewed event, we will explore behind the scenes in the writing process as we discuss issues of dramatic structure, characterization, and how the composers are approaching the musical side of their collaboration with librettists. Under the direction of Producing Artistic Director and stage director Lawrence Edelson (Hydrogen Jukebox for Fort Worth Opera; La Traviata for The Minnesota Opera; Trouble in Tahiti for Opera Santa Barbara/San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows; the Israeli premiere of Little Women in Tel Aviv; and the American premiere of Telemann’s Orpheus for Wolf Trap Opera), the four libretti will be performed by guest actors from Broadway and off-Broadway, followed by a discussion of the challenges of setting text to music in an operatic context, timing of action in opera versus spoken drama, and the role the orchestra can play in opera beyond mere accompaniment. Guest actors to be announced.
TICKETS FOR THE LIVING LIBRETTO WILL GO ON SALE IN MARCH.
PAST EVENTS
WHY OPERA?
On Sunday, October 30th, 2011, as part of National Opera Week, world renowned dramaturg and ALT principal faculty member Cori Ellison will lead a round table discussion exploring what is inspiring operatic writers in America today. New operas are being written by a wide variety of artists with radically different musical and theatrical styles. Tradition is sometimes revered, sometimes respected, and sometimes intentionally ignored. Classics are adapted and often reinvented, while other times new operas focus on political and social issues. During our first event in the Freshly Brewed series, we will discuss what inspires some of the country’s most gifted writers. What subject material is “right” for operatic adaptation and why? Does subject matter have to be contemporary to speak to contemporary audiences? How does musical and linguistic style change from subject to subject, opera to opera? Why write new opera? Guest artists will include composer Nico Muhly (Dark Sisters for Gotham Chamber Opera/Music-Theatre Group/Opera Company of Philadelphia); and Two Boys for The Metropolitan Opera/English National Opera); librettist Stephen Karam (Dark Sisters with composer Nico Muhly); composer Ricky Ian Gordon (The Grapes of Wrath for The Minnesota Opera/Utah Opera/Pittsburgh Opera; Rappahannock County for Virginia Opera/Virginia Arts Festival; and currently writing The Garden of the Finzi Continis for The Minnesota Opera); composer Stewart Wallace (Harvey Milk for Houston Grand Opera/New York City Opera/San Francisco Opera; The Bone Setter’s Daughter (with Amy Tan) for San Francisco Opera; Where’s Dick? for Houston Grand Opera, and Kaballah for Dance Theatre Workshop; and librettist Michael Korie (The Grapes of Wrath and The Garden of the Finzi Continis with Ricky Ian Gordon; Harvey Milk, The Bone Setter’s Daughter (with Amy Tan), Where’s Dick?, and Kaballah for Dance Theatre Workshop – all with Stewart Wallace).
THE ART OF THE ARIA WITH MARK ADAMO
On Sunday, December 18th, 2011, we invite the public to take a look inside the Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP) studio during this master class with ALT’s Director of Professional Development, composer/librettist Mark Adamo. Best known for Little Women, one of the most produced American operas of all-time, Adamo’s operatic work also includes Lysistrata for Houston Grand Opera, and he is currently writing The Gospel of Mary Magdalene for San Francisco Opera. During this event, four composer/librettist teams, all Resident Artists in the CLDP, will present new arias. Guest singers soprano Katherine Jolly and Baritone Dan Kempson will perform the arias, and artists and audiences alike will be invited to discuss the works they have heard. What is an aria? What is its purpose dramatically and musically within the context of a larger work? Have these arias been successful in accomplishing their goals? Did they engage you? Did they move you? Did they enrage you? Why or why not? Is the text set well for the voice? This unique look inside the writers’ studio will give audiences an opportunity to explore the process of developing new opera, and the opportunity to meet the next generation of operatic writers – the composers and librettists who will be writing the works you will want to hear in the future!
