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Press contact: Matt Gray, AOP Company Manager, email: mgray@operaprojects.org phone: 718-398-4024

SIX SCENES

From COMPOSERS & THE VOICE

Concert and dialogue with AOP composer fellows

Mentors: John Corigliano, Daron Hagen, John Musto, Tobias Picker,

Kaija Saariaho, and Stephen Schwartz

NEW YORK, NY— A dominatrix dungeon, a Nazi concentration camp, and the end of space and time

are just three of the places audiences will find themselves at when AOP (American Opera Projects)

presents Six Scenes, concert readings from operas-in-development created during AOP’s Composers

& the Voice (C&V) program. Performances will be held on Friday, September 7 and Sunday,

September 9, 2012 at 7:30PM, at South Oxford Space in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, home of AOP. Tickets

are $15 general admission, $10 for students/seniors and are available at www.operaprojects.org or at

the door.

Six emerging composers were chosen in 2011 by AOP to spend a year writing for the operatic voice.

The Six Scenes program for voice(s) and piano, represents compositions created during the free

fellowship — “The Waiting Woman” by Ronnie Reshef, “Stop and Frisk” by Sidney Marquez Boquiren,

“Companionship” by Rachel Peters, “Safe Word” by Robert Paterson, “Decoration” by Mikael Karlsson,

and “Male Identity” by Zach Redler and Sara Cooper. The composers will discuss with the audience

what it takes to create new operas that range from topical subjects like repercussions from a stop-

and-frisk incident to the dark humor of an emotionally delicate woman's relationship to her sentient

baking dough.

Members of the AOP Resident Ensemble of Singers for the 11-12 season will perform the scenes:

sopranos Amy Shoremount-Obra (Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera), mezzo-sopranos

Rebecca Ringle (Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera) and Rosalie

Sullivan (Carnegie Hall, SF Opera Merola program), tenor Brandon Snook (Cincinnati Opera,

Michigan Opera Theatre, Sarasota Opera), baritone Jorell Williams (New York City Center Encores!,

Caramoor International Music Festival, Ravinia Festival), and bass Justin Hopkins (Fort Worth Opera,

Opera Company of Philadelphia). Supporting on piano will be Composers & the Voice Music

Directors Jeanne-Minette Cilliers, Mila Henry and Kelly Horsted.

Selected scenes from this concert will perform later in September as part the inaugural BEAT (Brooklyn

Emerging Artists in Theater) Festival www.beatbrooklyn.com/ and in March 2013 at the Manhattan

School of Music as part of the New American Opera Previews: From Page to Stage.

Previous Six Scenes by C&V alumni produced in the Brooklyn-based bi-annual series featured the first

performances of Jack Perla’s Love/Hate (World Premiere 2012, San Francisco Opera at ODC Theater)

and Gregory Spears’s Paul’s Case (World Premiere Spring 2013, in Washington, DC and New York).

ABOUT AOP’s COMPOSERS & THE VOICE (C&V)

Led by Artistic Director Steven Osgood (former Artistic Director of AOP, Conductor, NYCO,

Chautauqua Opera, Fort Worth Opera Festival), C&V began in 2002 and since that time 36 composer

fellows have participated--all free of charge. AOP selects six composers for the year-long fellowship

and this season a libretto component was added to the program. The primary focus of C&V is to

provide composers and librettists experience working collaboratively with a group of singers on

writing for the voice and the opera stage. Participants meet in closed sessions from September to

April to present and discuss new works composed specifically for the individual voices of AOP’s

Resident Ensemble. The 2012-13 season of C&V will focus on the development and presentation of

completed operas.

In addition to the AOP training, mentors John Corigliano, Daron Hagen, John Musto, Tobias Picker,

Stephen Schwartz, and Kaija Saariaho serve as AOP Composer Chairs. Each of these distinguished

creators was carefully selected to mentor a C&V fellow with opportunities for discussion and one-on-

one feedback.

Composers & the Voice is made possible in part by a generous multi-year award from The Andrew W.

Mellon Foundation. The fellows are further supported, in part, by funding from The New York

Community Trust Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund and Musical Arts Fund.

CALENDAR LISTING INFORMATION

AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS presents

Six Scenes

World Premiere Opera Scenes from the 2011-12

Season of Composers & the Voice

WORKS BY: Sidney Marquez Boquiren, Sara Cooper,

Mikael Karlsson, Robert Paterson, Rachel Peters,

Zach Redler, Ronnie Reshef

MUSIC DIRECTION: Jeanne-Minette Cilliers, Mila Henry, Kelly Horsted

PERFORMANCES BY: Amy Shoremount-Obra, Rebecca Ringle, Rosalie Sullivan,

Brandon Snook, Jorell Williams, and Justin Hopkins

Friday, September 7th, 2012 at 7:30PM

Sunday, September 9th, 2012 at 7:30PM

South Oxford Space

138 S. Oxford St., Brooklyn, NY 11217

Subway—2,3,4,5,B,D,M,N,Q,R trains or LIRR to Atlantic Ave.; C to Lafayette Ave.,

G to Fulton Street.

Tickets: $15 General Admission, $10 Students/Seniors

Tickets and info available at www.operaprojects.org

ABOUT THE PRODUCER

AOP's mission is to identify, develop and present new and innovative works of music theater by

emerging and established artists and to engage our audiences in an immersive, transformative

theatrical experience. Operas to receive fully-staged premieres after passing through AOP's First

Chance development program include Séance on a Wet Afternoon (New York City Opera,

Opera Santa Barbara), Before Night Falls (Fort Worth Opera), and Heart of Darkness (London's

Royal Opera House), among many others. www.operaprojects.org

ADDITIONAL PROJECT INFO AND PRESS MATERIALS AVAILABLE AT: www.operaprojects.org

ARTIST BIOS

COMPOSER & LIBRETTIST BIOS

Sidney Marquez Boquiren’s compositional work and performance activities typically

involve multi-disciplinary and/or multi-media collaborations. He and choreographer

Trebien Pollard developed and performed The Civilized Captivity of a Primitive

Existence (2008). For the premiere of Four Songs (2009), set to poetry by Jacqueline

Jones LaMon and composed for tenor and guitar, he designed Last Seen, an

interdisciplinary event that explored the issue of “disappearance” through the

performance of songs and readings of texts. He has premiered two new works on a

double-bill: We Will Not Be Silent (2010), an improvised work for piano and electronics

assisted by Bryan Teoh written in response to the recent surge of cyber-bullying, and

Odes to Earth and Air (2010), a semi-staged multi-media chamber opera with lyrics by

Daniel Neer, and video and direction by Ted Gorodetzky. He has also written the

score for Jane Pickett’s short film Cuttlefish (2011). Sidney teaches at Adelphi

University.

Sara Cooper is a graduate of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch

(NYU). Book and Lyric credits include: The Memory Show, World Premiere, Barrington

Stage Company, William Finn's Musical Theatre Lab (2010), NAMT (2009), Bronfman

Artist Fellowship (2009), NYC in 2012!!; Loving Leo, reading, TriArts Sharon Playhouse

(2011), workshop, Adirondack Theatre Festival (2010), retreat, Weston Playhouse

(2010); October Songbook Series: The Songs of Zach Redler and Sara Cooper, Arts and

Artists at St. Paul (2010); The Tenth Floor, (book only), New York Musical Theatre Festival

(2010), Talkin' Broadway 2010 Summer Theatre Festival Citations: Outstanding New

Musical (2010); Emergency Contraception!: The Musical, Theater for the New City

(2007); We Love You, Johnny Hero, NY Fringe Festival (2006). Short

plays/musicals/operas and songs around NYC. As an educator, Sara has worked for

Lincoln Center, CUNY City College, and Theater for the New City. Dramatists Guild

and ASCAP. http://saracooper.weebly.com

Rachel Peters originally hails from St. Louis, Missouri. Opera: The Wild Beast of the

Bungalow (Metropolis Opera Project, AOP/Opera on Tap). Musicals: Only Children

(NYU Mainstage, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Dixon Place), Tiny Feats of Cowardice

(NYC Fringe, Adirondack Theatre Festival), Write Left (New Georges), f2m, Public

Domain (NOMTI). Scores for plays: Stretch (a fantasia) (Living Theatre), The Bacchae

(Asolo Rep Conservatory), Unrequited (Public Theater Shakespeare Lab), Veritas (NYC

Fringe Festival), The Tale of the Good Whistleblower...Chalk Circle (Theatre Askew).

Concert works: Jack's Vocabulary, (Hartt SPASM, AOP/Make Music NY), I Live Here

(Galapagos Art Space) Canon I (Two Sides Sounding/ The Duplex). Cabaret songs

performed at the D-Lounge, Laurie Beechman Theatre, Don’t Tell Mama, Cornelia

Street Café, and many Boston cabarets. Composer in Residence, The Coterie; 2009

Anna Sosenko Assist Trust Award; 2010 New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio.

Double B.A., Brandeis University; MFA, NYU. www.racheljpeters.com

Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson writes music for the concert stage, ballet, films,

television and pop singers. He is a co-founder and artistic director of Please

MusicWorks, and wrote the soundtrack for Battlefield Bad Company I and II (the

biggest March video game release in history), and pieces for many of the leading

classical soloists of his generation. In 2011 he was included in the Q2 radio list of their

listeners’ 100 favorite composers under 40. He was one of the Out Magazine OUT100

most influential people 2007. He has collaborated with Lykke Li, Bruce LaBruce, Claire

Chase, Joshua Rubin, Alan Pierson, David Taylor, Wolfram Koessel, Black Sun

Productions, Lydia Lunch, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Maria Beatty, Andreas Söderström,

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and many more. www.mikaelk.com

Composer Robert Paterson's colorful, eclectic and intensely rhythmic music is

influenced by visual art, nature, machines, and more, and is inspired by everything

from the changing seasons to Dalí's melting clocks. Paterson is currently Music Alive

composer-in-residence with the Vermont Youth Orchestra, sponsored by Meet The

Composer and the League of American Orchestras. Honors include the Composer of

the Year Award from the Classical Recording Foundation and the Copland Award, as

well as awards from ASCAP, Meet The Composer, American Music Center and the

American Composers Forum. He has received fellowships to Yaddo, the MacDowell

Colony and the Aspen Music Festival. Orchestras and choirs that have performed

Paterson’s music include the Vermont Symphony, Orchestre National des Pays de la

Loire, Chamber Choir of Europe, Volti, Minnesota Orchestra and American Composers

Orchestra. Paterson appears on recordings for Mode, Centaur, Capstone, and Riax

and American Modern Recordings. (Photo credit: Daniel Dottavio)

www.robpaterson.com

Ronnie Reshef is a composer and performer of concert music and music for theatre

and films. Ronnie’s works were commissioned and performed by groups such as the

Israeli Chamber Project, NY Syzygy Ensemble, and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra,

throughout the US and Israel in venues such as Le Poisson Rouge, The Tank, Greenwich

House, Israel International Festival. Her theatre and film projects include collaborations

with the 14 Street Y LABA Theatre, the Juilliard Theatre Department, and the Israeli

Cameri Theatre, and awards and nominations from the Berlin International Film

Festival, Estonian Parnu Film Festival’s Grand Prize, Midtown International Theatre

Festival, and others. Upcoming projects include a commission from the Israeli

Chamber Ensemble, and a fully staged NYC premiere of a new monodrama The

Waiting Woman. Awards and competitions include the Jorden Berk Prize, Opera Vista

Competition, New York Composers Circle, as well as the Sam Spiegel Film School

Excellence Prize for film scoring, and the Israeli Shirimon Arrangement Prize.

www.ronniereshef.com

Zach Redler is a composer, pianist, copyist, musicologist and musical director in and

out of New York City. Zach actively works as a vocal coach and accompanist for

students at NYU. He is a copyist for many Broadway and Opera composers. As a part

of the Virginia Arts Festival’s John Duffy Institute he has studied with John Duffy, Libby

Larsen, David Lang, Bernard Rands, Michael Korie and Mark Campbell. Recent

productions as composer: Breakfast (Metropolis Opera Project); The Memory Show

(Off Bway 2012; Barrington Stage); Loving Leo (Sharon Playhouse; ATF); Perez Hilton

Saves the Universe (Regional; Various NYC Venues). Zach's music has been performed

at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Joe's Pub (among others) and has been critically

acclaimed by The New York Times, Variety and The Boston Globe. He is a member of

ASCAP, Local 802 and a graduate of NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing

Program. www.zachredler.com

SINGER BIOS

With her "bell-like" voice (Newsday), Amy Shoremount-Obra is quickly being

recognized as one of the most promising up-and-coming American sopranos. Recent

engagements include three seasons as the cover for the "Queen of the Night" in the

Metropolitan Opera's Julie Taymor production of The Magic Flute; An Evening with J.

D. McClatchy and The Metropolitan Opera at the 92nd St. Y; "Queen of the Night" in

The Magic Flute with New York City Opera; the cover for the Soprano in the world

premiere of John Zorn's Monodrama La Machine de l'être at New York City Opera,

and the role of "Beattrice" in Paolo Prestini's De Deo with New York City Opera VOX.

www.amyshoremount-obra.com

Praised by Opera News for her “richly focused voice”, young mezzo-soprano Rebecca

Ringle recently joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for productions of Nixon in

China, Die Walküre, and Rigoletto. Other recent roles include Ariodante with the

Princeton Festival, Dido in Dido and Aeneas with the Macau International Music

Festival in China, and Queen Leda in Der Liebe der Danae with Bard Summerscape.

She has performed concert repertoire at Carnegie and Avery Fisher Halls, and with

The Cleveland Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, the Utah Symphony, and

Orchestra Giuseppi Verdi di Milano, and opera with New York City Opera and

Washington National Opera, among others. Ms. Ringle is a summa cum laude

graduate of Oberlin College (Comparative Literature) and Yale School of Music.

www.rebeccaringle.com

Rosalie Sullivan has performed at Carnegie Hall as the mezzo soloist in the Mozart

Requiem and in the NY premiere of Stephen Edward's Ave Maria Mass with

MidAmerica Productions. Noted for 'real and surprisingly sympathetic' characters that

are both 'well and coyly sung,' Ms. Sullivan’s operatic repertoire includes Rosina,

Cenerentola, Cherubino, Dorabella, Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito), and The Chinese

Woman (Paul Moravec's The Letter). An apprentice with the Santa Fe Opera (2007,

2008) and a Merola Artist with the San Francisco Opera (2004), Ms. Sullivan has been a

recipient of grant awards from the Merola Opera Board and the Anna Sosenko Assist

Trust. Recent performances include scenes from Paula Kimper’s Patience and Sarah

with American Opera Projects and songs of Paul Moravec with Trio Solisti for Opera

America’s Salon Series: Exploring American Voices.

Noted for his "sweet, reedy" voice (The Dallas Morning News), American tenor Brandon

Snook’s AOP credits include the world premiere of Nkeiru Okoye’s song, 1861, set from

Walt Whitman’s poem of the same name, which was performed at Manhattan’s

Hudson Guild Theatre. Recent performances include Vietnam POW Captain Jim

Thompson in Chelsea Opera’s production of Glory Denied (“vocal freshness,

tempered with despondency”-The New York Times) and Alfred in Die Fledermaus at

Greenville Light Opera Works. Other appearances include Cincinnati Opera,

Michigan Opera Theatre, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Des Moines Metro Opera,

Sarasota Opera, and Seagle Music Colony. A native of Dallas, Mr. Snook holds Voice

degrees from The University of Kansas and The University of Michigan.

Praised by Opera News as having a “Solid vocal core” and the ABC News &

Entertainment as “smooth-voiced”, American Baritone Jorell Williams’s highlights

include The Villager with the New York City Center Encores! production of Kurt Weill's

Lost in the Stars, Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore (2011) and Fiesque in Maria di

Rohan (2010) with the Caramoor International Music Festival, “The Muir” with the Mark

Morris Dance Group, and appearing with the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center

Opera Theatre’s collaborative workshop reading of Nico Muhly’s Two Boys (2011) and

Michael Torke’s Senna (2010). Jorell the honor of performing in “A Celebration of

America” in the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on the occasion of the

Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama. www.myspace.com/jorellwilliams

American bass-baritone Justin Hopkins burst onto the international opera scene in

2010, performing the combined roles of Il Servo, Il Medico and Heraldo Macbeth with

Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. He was praised as having "created

something very beautiful with the role" and the production was awarded "Production

of the Year" by Opernwelt. In the same season Mr. Hopkins performed the roles of

Colline La Boheme with the Verbier Festival Academy and Cappadocian Salome

under the direction of Valery Gergiev with the Verbier Festival Orchestra in

Switzerland. During the 2010-2011 season, he performed Frère Laurent Romeo at

Juliette with Opera Company of Philadelphia as well as in Philip Glass' Hydrogen

Jukebox with Fort Worth Opera.

ARTISTIC TEAM

Steven Osgood is quickly becoming a much sought after conductor across North America, having proven

his expertise in repertoire ranging from the Baroque through this century’s most challenging scores. He

conducted the world premieres of Tan Dun’s Peony Pavilion, Jonathan Sheffer’s Blood on the Dining Room

Floor, Janice Hamer‘s Lost Childhood, Paula Kimper‘s Patience and Sarah, Xenakis's Oresteia, and most

recently Missy Mazzoli‘s Song from the Uproar. Spring 2012 he conducted John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of

Versailles at Manhattan School of Music and made his debut with Long Beach Opera leading Golijov’s

Ainadamar. This fall he will conduct the world premiere of Daron Hagen’s Little Nemo in Slumberland,

which will mark his debut with Sarasota Opera. Mr. Osgood joined the music staff of the Metropolitan

Opera in 2006 as Assistant Conductor for the world premiere of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor, and added

productions of La Traviata, Nixon in China, and Phillip Glass' Satyagraha in subsequent seasons. Mr.

Osgood was Artistic Director of American Opera Projects from 2001 to 2008. He created the company’s

nationally recognized Composers & the Voice Workshop Series, and led workshops of dozens of works in

development, including Herschel Garfein’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Tarik O’Regan’s Heart

of Darkness, Conrad Cummings’ The Golden Gate, and Séance on a Wet Afternoon by Stephen Schwartz.

In January, 2013 he will conduct the world premiere of Mohammed Fairouz's Sumeida's Song with Beth

Morrison Projects. http://srosgood.com

Jeanne-Minette Cilliers - Increasingly in demand as a collaborator, Ms. Cilliers performs across the globe,

including festivals and venues such as the Irving S. Gilmore Keyboard Festival, the Ravinia Festival, Lincoln

Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City. She has collaborated with artists such as Frans Helmerson,

Janos Starker, Joyce Castle, Lise Lindstrom, Håkan Hagegård, Lester Lynch, David Daniels and actor Zoe

Caldwell, among others. Fostering a strong interest in new music, Ms. Cilliers has worked with prominent

contemporary composers such as Dominick Argento, William Bolcom, Jake Heggie, John Corigliano, Mark

Adamo and Sven-David Sandström. Her recording of Mr. Argento’s Andreé Expedition (with Håkan

Hagegård) will be released in the upcoming season. Currently, Ms. Cilliers is on the faculty at the

Manhattan School of Music, while also music director for the Martina Arroyo Opera Foundation in New York

City. She served as principal coach/pianist at Glimmerglass Opera Festival in 2009 and 2010, and at The

Santa Fe Opera in 2011. http://jmcilliers.com/

An active performer of opera and music theater, Mila Henry is currently a resident artist with American

Opera Projects in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, where she has delighted audiences in accompanying new vocal

works in the most operatic, and un-operatic, of settings. A regular at their Opera Grows in Brooklyn series at

Galapagos Art Space, Mila has worked with both emerging and established composers alike, in venues

ranging from Merkin Concert Hall to Don’t Tell Mama. Notable performances include her Lincoln Center

debut with Kamran Ince’s opera Judgment of Midas, the New York Premiere of John Musto’s Later The

Same Evening, a collaboration with Libby Larsen on her song cycle Try Me Good King: Last Words of the

Wives of Henry VIII, and an appearance at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival with Jack Perla’s Love/Hate.

Mila grew up outside Philadelphia, and holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and

Elizabethtown College. www.milahenry.com

Pianist Kelly Horsted has collaborated on many projects with AOP, including Herschel Garfein's Rosencrantz

& Guildenstern Are Dead, directed by Mark Morris, Tarik O’Regan’s Heart of Darkness, and Paula Kimper's

operas The Bridge of San Louis Rey, and Patience and Sarah for the Lincoln Center Festival. Other recent

projects have included Tom Cipullo's Glory Denied with Chelsea Opera, music directing several readings of

student compositions at the Graduate Music Theater Writing Program at NYU's Tisch School, as well as

performances with Opera Company of Brooklyn, Wintergreen Festival, New Jersey Opera Theater, Friends

and Enemies of New Music, Quinn Art Cabaret and Five Words in a Line. Kelly has taught at Mannes

College of Music, Hunter College, Five Towns College, Intermezzo, and Operaworks. He earned both

Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music. http://kellyhorsted.com/

END