AOP's Charles Jarden talks to The Washington Post about the art of opera development
"Developing new opera is an art in itself" states last week's Washington Post article, and of course AOP couldn't agree more! For her October 16 article, veteran classical music journalist Anne Midgette highlighted AOP's role in creating a new American repertory and interviewed General Director Charles Jarden about the importance of the workshop process.
“Opera is complex enough to take on layers, like a snowball,” Jarden says, “and developing workshops, and showing workshops, and having capable press look at workshops, is a way to make everything better and grow the buzz.”
For 25 years AOP audiences have been able to participate in the workshopping process with the artists and will continue to do so in the next few months with previews of our opera-in-development Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom at Harlem's Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture on Dec. 9, among others. The results of our workshops can be seen and heard in the Washington area in November when UrbanArias presents two AOP-developed monodramas from composer Daniel Felsenfeld - Nora, In the Great Outdoors (2011) and Alice in the Time of the Jabberwock. "Nora" boasts an AOP-commissioned libretto by Will Eno and will be sung by dynamic soprano Emily Pulley. The UrbanArias orchestra is led by Robert Wood and the stage director is Beth Greenberg (AOP's Harriet Tubman). Also in the DC area, AOP-commissioned and developed Lost Childhood, (Hamer/Azrael) which was staged at Tel Aviv's International Vocal Arts Institute, will receive a non-staged orchestral concert including original AOP cast members Michael Hendrick and Chris Trakas, in their roles of Judah and Manfred, respectively, on November 9. COMPLETE ARTICLE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/developing-new-operas-is-an-art-in-itself/2013/10/16/f7849c26-3687-11e3-8a0e-4e2cf80831fc_story.html