AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS PRESENTS "FIRST GLIMPSE" CONCERT OF EMERGING OPERA COMPOSERS AND LIBRETTISTS

On Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14, 2016 at 8:00pm, contemporary opera producer AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS (AOP) will present COMPOSERS & THEVOICE: FIRST GLIMPSE 2016, a concert of songs from ten artists quickly emerging in the world of contemporary opera. Audiences will hear compositions written by composers Matthew Barnson, Carlos R. Carrillo, Nell Shaw Cohen, Marc LeMay, Cecilia Livingston, and Sky Macklay and librettists Edward Einhorn, Duncan McFarlane, Emily Roller, and Mark Sonnenblick, who were chosen by AOP to spend a year creating new works focusing on the operatic voice in its bi-annual fellowship program Composers & the Voice (C&V). The compositions will be performed by AOP's Resident Ensemble of Singers: coloratura soprano Tookah Sapper (Manhattan School of Music), lyric soprano Jennifer Goode Cooper (NYCO, Glimmerglass), mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert (Metropolitan Opera, Sarasota Opera), tenor Blake Friedman (BAM, St. Petersburg Opera), baritone Michael Weyandt (Lyric Opera of Virginia, Dicapo Opera Theater) and bass Jonathan Woody (BAM, Apollo’s Fire). Each of the songs were composed specifically for the singers’ voices, after months of study and experimentation during the C&V program. Supporting on piano will be C&V Music Directors Mila Henry, Kelly Horsted, and Charity Wicks.

The performances will be held at South Oxford Space (138 South Oxford St., Brooklyn, NY 11217) in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the home of AOP. Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 for students/seniors and are available at www.aopopera.org.