FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AMERICAN LYRIC THEATER
Announces Concert of The Poe Project - Thursday, November 10, 2011 – 7:30PM
Featured Artists include Caroline Worra, Camille Zamora, Audrey Babcock, Chad A. Johnson, Christopher Burchett and Matt Boehler
New York, NY – Tickets are now on sale for The Poe Project, a concert of three new one-act operas inspired by the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe commissioned by American Lyric Theater.
The Poe Project will be performed in concert one night only at 7:30 PM on Thursday, November 10, 2011 in Cary Hall at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street, NYC. Tickets are available in advance for $40 from www.smarttix.com or by phone at (212) 868-4444.
The Poe Project is currently being developed by six Resident Artists in American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program, the only full time mentorship initiative for emerging operatic writers in the United States. The trilogy of one-act operas is receiving an extensive developmental workshop this fall, culminating in the concert on November 10th.
Inspired by Poe’s macabre fiction, the three operas of The Poe Project are original tales of contemporary horror that draw on themes of anxiety and mortality: Buried Alive, by composer Jeff Myers and librettist Quincy Long; …of the Flesh, by composer Jay Anthony Gach and librettist Royce Vavrek; and Embedded, by composer Patrick Soluri and librettist Deborah Brevoort. American Lyric Theater asked these writers, “What might Poe writer if he were alive today?” The chilling results are twisted journeys through trust, self-doubt and obsession; disease, intimacy and sex; and terrorism, aging and the darker side of fame.
The cast will feature soprano Caroline Worra, soprano Camille Zamora, mezzo soprano Audrey Babcock, tenor Chad A. Johnson, baritone Christopher Burchett, and bass Matt Boehler. Keith Chambers conducts the American Lyric Theater Orchestra.
ABOUT AMERICAN LYRIC THEATER
American Lyric Theater (ALT) was founded by Lawrence Edelson in 2005 to build a new body of operatic repertoire for new audiences by nurturing composers and librettists, developing sustainable artistic collaborations, and contributing new works to the national canon. ALT is not an opera company by any traditional definition. Many opera companies commission and perform new works; but ALT is the only company in the United States that offers extensive, full time mentorship for emerging operatic writers. While the traditional company model focuses on producing a season, ALT’s programs focus on serving the needs of composers and librettists, developing new works, and collaborating with larger producing companies to help usher those works into the repertoire.
In 2006, ALT commissioned its first main stage work from American Composer Peter Ash: The Golden Ticket, a new opera based on Roald Dahl’s classic book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. After Ash and his librettist partner, Donald Sturrock, began independent development of this opera, ALT commissioned its completion with Felicity Dahl, and provided a supportive mentorship environment for three years. Under a new collaborative producing model, ALT developed a partnership with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to present the world premiere of The Golden Ticket, which took place in June 2010 to tremendous critical and audience acclaim. The European Premiere of The Golden Ticket took place in October 2010 at Ireland’s Wexford Festival Opera, and The Atlanta Opera will present the opera in March 2012. In 2009, ALT initiated a second main stage commission, The Poe Project: a trilogy of one-act operas inspired by the fiction of Edgar Allan Poe being written by six Resident Artists from ALT’s Composer Librettist Development Program (CLDP). Since launching the CLDP in 2007, ALT has provided intensive personalized mentorship to 25 gifted emerging artists. Currently, ALT is developing two additional full-length operas, and welcomed eight new Resident Artists to the CLDP in the 2011-12 season.
The Poe Project was commissioned by ALT with support from The New York State Council on the Arts. The 2011 workshop and concert of The Poe Project is made possible with support from OPERA America and The Dorothy Loudon Foundation.
The Composer Librettist Development Program is made possible by support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and The ASCAP Foundation – Joseph and Rosalie Meyer Fund.
For Biographies of the composers and librettist writing The Poe Project, please visit: http://www.altnyc.org/composer-librettist-development-program/resident-artists/
Press Contact / Press Tickets: (646) 216-8298
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