Crane School of Music to Premiere the First Full Productions of Three New Operatic Works

POTSDAM, NY (10/30/2014)(readMedia)-- Students and faculty at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music are gearing up to unveil the first full productions of three ambitious new operatic works next month.

Six accomplished composers and librettists from around the country will travel to Potsdam, N.Y., to work with the Crane Opera Ensemble and Orchestra, leading up to a performance featuring the winners of the 2014 Domenic J. Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize.

Three operas were chosen from a pool of 74 submissions, which came from across the U.S., Canada and Europe. For the first round of this competition, works that focused on issues relevant to the LGBTQ community were particularly encouraged.

The chance to perform new works, while collaborating with the composer and writer, is priceless for the music students -- and it's exceptionally rare for undergraduates to be afforded such an opportunity.

The three winning works will be presented from Thursday, Nov. 13 to Saturday, Nov. 15, with performances at 7:30 p.m. in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater at The Crane School of Music. A gala reception will be held in the Performing Arts Center lobby following the Thursday evening opening night performance.

For a complete itinerary of events, including information on performances and discussions that will be livestreamed, visit www.potsdam.edu/pellicciotti.

The Domenic J. Pellicciotti Opera Composition Prize was founded by Dr. Gary C. Jaquay '67, to honor his life partner Domenic J. Pellicciotti, an ardent fan of opera. The award seeks to encourage and acknowledge the creation of new opera works that explore, within a broad range of possible expressions and representations, themes related to tolerance, inclusion and/or the celebration of diversity within an inclusive community. The $20,000 prize will be awarded every four years, along with a production of the winning operas.

"The extraordinary gift of Dr. Gary Jaquay, honoring his life partner Domenic, gives The Crane School the opportunity to bring new, musically exciting and socially profound operatic works not only to our students, faculty and community, but also to the operatic world," said Crane School of Music Dean Dr. Michael Sitton. "As we anticipate this first production, we can only imagine the ripples that will extend from these and future Pellicciotti Prize operas into the lives of those who participate, experience and come to know the operas selected. We are confident that this program will continue to foster exciting new work by composers and librettists active today and in the future."

The featured opera, which will be performed in full, is "A Letter to East 11th Street," with libretto by Mark Campbell and music by Martin Hennessy. It is an intimate opera that affirms, with wit and pathos, the enduring bonds of love, as it charts the impact of the AIDS epidemic on two best friends -- first in the early years of the disease and then 10 years later. In 1989, Rick Driscoll, a young man with AIDS, has returned to the suburban house in which he grew up and videotapes a letter to his best friend and former roommate, Susan. A decade later, Susan muses on all that has happened since Rick's death, and toasts her best friend.

The other winners include "In a Mirror, Darkly," with music by Christopher Weiss and libretto by S. O'Duinn Magee, and "The Fox and the Pomegranate," with music by Matt Frey and libretto by Daniel J. Kushner. The opera ensemble will present one act from each of these operas.

Each act of "In a Mirror, Darkly" is a complete story of a woman artist, but each is set in a different era and location. In Act II, set in the 1890s in Paris, Elaine is a painter and assistant in Lantier's studio, where she works in secret to complete her masterpiece. After Lantier decides to sign his own name to her painting, Elaine is forced to confront her society's views about women artists and make a decision about her future.

"The Fox and the Pomegranate" takes place in a grove yielding many different fruits. A seductive and mysterious young man named Aril delivers a cryptic omen before seducing Nate, a gender-fluid individual, who has betrayed his lover, Meg. This allegorical opera explores the multifaceted nature of love, the fluidity of gender roles and the nuances of infidelity.

The cast and orchestra will be fully comprised of Crane students. Dr. Kirk Severtson conducts the opera orchestra, and the production is directed by Dr. Carleen Graham. Department of Theatre and Dance faculty member Alexis Foster is the costume designer. E. Tonry Lathroum is the guest lighting designer, and Ann Beyersdorfer is the guest scenic designer for this production.

The production week will feature numerous community educational outreach events, including an opening matinee performance for regional high school students on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 9:30 a.m. in Snell Theater. Workshops, lunch and campus tours will conclude the day, giving North Country students an opportunity to work with cast members and take part in a variety of workshops in acting, singing, technical theatre and movement. Participation in these educational events is limited. For information about reservations, contact Community Performance Series Education Coordinator Matthew Morris at (315) 267-2612.

"This is the fourteenth year for our opera education outreach program, and we are so happy to be able to offer these experiences to North Country students," said Crane Opera Ensemble Director Dr. Carleen Graham.

In addition, there will be free composer/librettist forums -- hour-long lectures by each creative team, to give insight into how they created and developed their winning operas. Weiss and Magee will speak about "In a Mirror, Darkly," on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. in the Ralph Wakefield Recital Hall, followed by Frey and Kushner speaking about "The Fox and the Pomegranate" at 4 p.m. in the same place. Hennessey and Campbell will discuss "A Letter to East 11th Street" on Friday, Nov. 14 at 9 a.m., also in Wakefield Hall. These events are free and the public is invited to attend.

A panel discussion, "The Role of New Works in Higher Education," will explore how to nurture relevance and creativity in young adults at the crossroads of popular culture, and the critical role that exposure to new works can play in the education of college students. This free discussion will be offered at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 14 in the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall. The panel discussion will also be livestreamed at www.potsdam.edu/crane.

Guest speakers include:

• Lawrence Edelson, founder of American Lyric Theatre in New York City and artistic/general director of Opera Saratoga;
• Laura Lee Everett, artistic services director for Opera America;
• Melissa Wegner '03, associate director of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions;
• J. Copeland Woodruff, director of opera at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., and
• Darren K. Woods, general director of Fort Worth Opera and vice chairman of artistic services for Opera America.

Following the panel discussion, Woods will offer an open masterclass, called "The 10 Commandments of Auditioning," at 1 p.m., also in Hosmer.

Crane Opera Ensemble performance tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for SUNY Potsdam students, faculty and staff. Tickets are available by calling the Community Performance Series Box Office at (315) 267-2277, or visiting the Roxy Theater or Northern Music & Video in downtown Potsdam or the CPS Box Office in the lobby of SUNY Potsdam's Performing Arts Center. You can also reserve online, by visiting www.cpspotsdam.org.

The Friday night performance will be streamed live at the concert time. To view the program and see other upcoming streaming performances, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/Crane/streaming.

About the Crane Opera Ensemble:

The award-winning Crane Opera Ensemble provides exciting opportunities for students to experience all facets of performance and production. Two fully staged productions are produced each year, one with orchestra and one with a chamber instrumental group or piano. The ensemble enjoys a collaborative relationship with the Department of Theatre and Dance, co-producing a musical theatre production every three years. Productions of "Amahl and the Night Visitors," "On The Town," "L'Egisto," "L'Enfant et les Sortilèges" and "The Mikado" have received top awards from the National Opera Association, The American Prize and the American College Theatre Festival. Its opera education outreach program has served more than 4,000 North Country school children, many experiencing opera for the first time.

About The Crane School of Music:

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution. For more information about SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

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Posted Thursday October 30, 2014 at 08:30 am by SUNY Potsdam
Last Updated Thursday October 30, 2014 at 12:43 pm