In The News
Ensemble Parallele makes the top 10 of San Francisco Classical Voice for 2011
Ensemble Parallele meets with John Harbison to discuss “The Great Gatsby”
Ensemble Parallèle Joins OPERA America
The Board of Directors of OPERA America voted at their October meeting to approve Ensemble Parallèle’s application for membership as a Professional Company Member. OPERA America is the national service organization for opera providing members with an array of publications and online resources, regional workshops, an annual conference and network-specific services. It draws on resources and expertise from within and beyond the opera field to provide members with informations pertaining to the creation, presentation and enjoyment of opera.
Founded in 1970, OPERA America has an international membership that includes nearly 150 Professional Company Members, 2,000 Individual Members, and over 16,000 subscribers to its electronic news service. The staff and board of EP are excited about the opportunities for professional growth and outreach that this new association brings.
[Photo: Ensemble Parallèle’s Orphée - Thomas Glenn, Eugene Brancoveanu, Philip Skinner. Credit: Steve DiBartolomeo]
Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters Is the First for Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Commissions
The opera company has announced a series of like-minded new opera projects that dramatically change the company’s face—and future. The already-announced Dark Sisters, a Nico Muhly project in collaboration with Gotham Chamber Opera and Music-Theatre Group, premieres in 2012 on June 8.
“Think about it: We have four [operas] under active commission and two others that we’re working on,” said general director David Devan.
“We have a composer-in-residence program. We’ve now become the place where everyone sends a score. I thought we’d be having this conversation in 10 years, not five.”
Having helped raise Jennifer Higdon’s stillborn Cold Mountain opera from the dead, the company also unveiled a larger collaboration with Santa Fe: The companies will co-commission Oscar, based on the trial and imprisonment of Oscar Wilde, from composer Theodore Morrison and librettist John Cox, with the title role written for countertenor David Daniels. Both works will premiere in Santa Fe, with later East Coast premieres at the Academy of Music – in 2015 for Oscar, 2016 for Cold Mountain.
The company is coproducing with the Minnesota Opera the Kevin Puts opera Silent Night, about the World War I Christmas truce, premiering this season in Minneapolis and in 2013 in Philadelphia. As part of its American Repertoire Program, OCP is committed to staging an American opera every season for the next decade.
[Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns, Inquirer Music Critic. Photo: Mico Muhly, Composer]
