Scenes from 3 new American operasTues. June 4, 2013Three new operas: Generalissimo by Reinaldo Moya, She: An Opera of Adventure by Mark Thome, and The Three Truths by Matthew Welch. Concert presentations of scenes from these three operas will feature Ensemble 20-21, the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, and extraordinary singers including Blake Friedman, Mary Mackenkzie, Solange Merdinian, Nicole Pantos, Anne Rhodes, Douglas Williams and many others. Opera Works In Progress is co-sponsored by the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, American Composers Alliance and BMI, Asia University Tokyo (Thome), and the Van Lier Fellowship (Moya), and Experiments in Opera (Welch). Symphony Space Thalia at 7:30pm. Box office call 212-864-5400 or Link to online purchase: Tickets $10 advance here.
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The Three Truths
Music and Libretto by Matthew Welch
Directed by Louisa Proske
Costumes by Seth Bodie
Soprano: Anne Rhodes
Baritone:Jeffrey Gavett
Flute: Amelia Lukas
Clarinet: Vasko Dukovski
Electric guitar: Brendon Randall-Myers
Piano: Manon Hutton-DeWys
Percussion: Joe Tucker
Conductor:Paolo Bortolameolli
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Garth Edwin Sunderland, Artistic Director
Ayesha, Ustane - Nicole Pantos
Leo, Job - Blake Friedman
Flute - Christine Perea
Clarinet - Vasko Dukovski*
Percussion - Britton Matthews
Piano - Jacob Rhodebeck
Violin - Miranda Cuckson
Violoncello - Emily Brausa
Conductor - David tech*
*Guest Artist
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GeneralissimoLibretto by Jess Foster
Miguel Angel: Douglas Williams
Junior: Michael Kelly
Pelele: Mary Mackenzie
Camila: Solange Merdinian
Ensemble 20-21
Yael Manor, Artistic Director
Flute: Itay Lantner
Clarinet: Vasko Dukovski
Piano: Yael Manor
Percussion: Samuel Budish*
Guitar: Nilko Andreas*
Violin: Francesca Anderegg
Cello: Brian Snow
conductor: Vince Lee
*Guest artist
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Program notes:
Reinaldo Moya is a Venezuelan American composer whose music is inspired by the complex and boundless canvases of the great Latin American novels. His music can be thought of as folk music from the magical, imaginary landscapes depicted in these books. Seemingly opposite aspects of reality coexist in his music: the simple and the complex, the familiar and the unexpected, the beautiful and the ugly, the magical and the everyday. He has always been surrounded by music. Growing up in Venezuela as the youngest of three musical sons, he got exposed to music early and often. He began his musical journey as a violinist, and even as a young boy he enjoyed making up little songs and ditties. It must be admitted, however that he was no Mozart. As a violinist, he was a founding member of the Simn Bolvar Orchestra of Venezuela, and travelled extensively playing throughout Latin America, the United States and Europe. He started composing more seriously as an undergraduate at West Virginia University under the guidance of John Beall. He later studied at the Juilliard School with Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser. His music has been performed by the Da Capo Chamber Players, The Juilliard Orchestra, the Attacca Quartet, Trio 180, and musicians from the JACK Quartet and Alarm Will Sound. Reinaldo lives in Minnesota with his violinist wife Francesca Anderegg, and they both teach music at St. Olaf College. In the summers, Reinaldo is on the composition faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp, a job he enjoys as he gets to share his love and passion for music with younger composers. 
Mark Thome is a composer, arranger and orchestrator who resides in the Pacific Northwest of Washington State. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree at the Evergreen State College. An accomplished clarinet and saxophone player, Mark has performed with numerous groups including the Tacoma Symphony, Tacoma Concert Band, the Jazz Senators big band, Native Blue jazz sextet, Barnum and Bailey Circus and in the pit of many musicals. He has composed and arranged for a variety of performing groups ranging from jazz combos, jazz ensembles, concert band to chamber ensembles, full orchestra and opera. Mark currently has compositions and arrangements published with UNC Jazz Press, Walrus Music Publishing as well as the American Composers Alliance and was a prizewinner in the 2009 Humboldt State University Brass Chamber Music Workshop Composition Competition. Mark is staff arranger for Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia and is currently working as the arranger for "Clarinet Monsters", an orchestral crossover experience thatblends classical and jazz featuring clarinetist Jeff Brooks with symphony orchestra and jazz quartet.Included in the "Clarinet Monsters" program will be the music of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Jeff Brooks. 
Matthew WelchRegarded as a composer possessed of both rich imagination and the skill to bring his fancies to life by Time Out New York, composer and bagpipe virtuoso Matthew Welch holds two degrees in Music Composition, a BFA from Simon Fraser University (1999), and an MA from Wesleyan University (2001), having studied with noted composers such as Barry Truax, Rodney Sharman, Alvin Lucier and Anthony Braxton. After locating to New York City in 2001, he has worked with a host of other artists such as John Zorn, Julia Wolfe, Zeena Parkins, and Ikue Mori. The eclectic breadth of his interests in Scottish bagpipe music, Balinese gamelan, minimalism, improvisation and rock converge in compositional amalgams ranging from traditional-like bagpipe tunes to electronic pieces, improvisation strategies and fully notated works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, orchestra and non-western instruments. Since 2002, Mr. Welch has been running and composing for his own eclectic ensemble, Blarvuster, whose repertoire the New York Times has claimed as border-busting music; original and catchy. Mr. Welch has recorded for the Tzadik, Mode, Cantaloupe, Leo, Porter, Muud, Avian, Newsonic and Parallactic record labels.Three composers are working together to present their new opera scenes on June 4th:
Scenes from Generalissimo
The story of Generalissimo revolves around the darkly twisted logic of a Latin American dictator who seizes power at the expense of others. Is he a charismatic hero or a murdering tyrant? The lead character, Miguel Angel, confronts himself in a series of flashbacks on his tormented life. The lush musical score of Reinaldo Moya will be performed by Ensemble 20-21 with special guest singers Douglas Williams, Michael Kelly, Mary Mackenzie, and Solange Merdinian, with percussionist Samuel Budish.
SHE: AN OPERA OF ADVENTURE.
Music by Mark Thome
Libretto by Rex Stewart and Blair Stewart
Based on the novel She: A History of Adventure by H. Rider Haggard
World Premiere performance
Scenes from She
She, subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by Henry Rider Haggard, first serialized in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887. She is one of the classics of imaginative literature, with over 83 million copies sold in 44 different languages--one of the best-selling books of all time. The story follows the journey of Horace Holly and his assistant Leo Vincey to a lost kingdom in Africa. There, they encounter an ancient community and its mysterious "white queen," Ayesha. Librettists Rex and Blair Stewart have followed the author's development of the "Lost World" sub-genre, to accompany the composers intimate chamber score. Veteran theater and opera performers Blake Friedman and Nicole Pantos are accompanied by the NY Times-acclaimed Lost Dog New Music Ensemble.
THE THREE TRUTHS.
Music and Libretto by Matthew Welch
Directed by Louisa Proske
Costumes by Seth Bodie
Matthew Welch's The Three Truths is an operatic setting based on a Sufi parable, in which a robot and a cyborg discuss the human capacity for truth. It was performed to a sold out hall at Issue Project Room in February. In this performance, soprano Anne Rhodes will reprise her magnificent performance in Welch's dramatic scene, in which she portrays the robot tyrant, RX-1. Welch's music presents an unusual blend-Indonesian gamelan, Scottish bagpipes, and indie rock. Welch has found his compositional voice in their common ground.
This concert is supported by New Music USA, thee Alice M. Ditson Fund, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and Experiments in Opera. Composers will be on hand for discussion after the concert, and librettist Rex Stewart will attend the festivities, courtesy of Asia University in Tokyo.
Concert location: Tuesday, June 4th at 7:30pm
Symphony Space Thalia Hall
2537 Broadway at 95th St.
New York, NY
$10 Advance Purchase; $15 General Admission
Box office: 212.864.5400
Buy tickets online here
