AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS (AOP) presents FIRST GLIMPSE

World Premiere Songs created in AOP Fellowship Program "Composers & the Voice"

to be presented on May 17 and 18, 2024 at 7:30pm

April 16, 2024

Brooklyn, NY - American Opera Projects (AOP) announces First Glimpse: Songs from the Great Room, a concert of World Premiere Songs written by the current composers and librettists of Composers & the Voice, the groundbreaking vocal-writing fellowship program that has been the starting point for some of today’s most recognized contemporary opera creators. The concert will be held at 7:30pm on May 17 and 18, 2024 in The Great Room of the A.R.T./NY South Oxford Space in Fort Greene (138 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217).

The fellows are composers Joshua Brown, Kervy Delcy, JL Marlor, Joy Redmond, Kavita Shah, LJ White, and librettists Andi Lee Carter, Aiden K. Feltkamp, Anita Gonzalez, and Melissa Tien, all of whom were chosen by AOP to spend a year creating new works in its free bi-annual fellowship program Composers & the Voice (C&V).

First Glimpse will be performed by members of the Composers & the Voice Resident Ensemble of Singers: sopranos Natalie Trumm and MaKayla McDonald, mezzo-soprano Ilene Pabon, tenor Brian Jeffers, baritone Phillip Bullock, and bass-baritone Hans Tashjian. Each of the songs were composed specifically for the singers' voices, after months of study and experimentation during the C&V program. Supporting on piano will be C&V Music Directors Mila Henry, Kelly Horsted, Emma Luyendijk, and Kyle P. Walker.

Tickets are $25 at the link below:

First Glimpse: Songs from the Great Room

Composers & the Voice

Friday, May 17

Saturday, May 18

7:30 P.M.

Steven Osgood — C&V Artistic Director

Mila Henry — Head of Music

Matt Gray — Head of Drama

AOP's Composers & the Voice is a two-year, tuition-free fellowship for composers and librettists that provides experience writing for the voice and opera stage. Created and led by Composers & the Voice Artistic Director Steven Osgood, the two-year fellowship includes a year of working with the company’s Resident Ensemble of Singers and professional instructors followed by a year of continued promotion and career development through AOP and its strategic partnerships. Since launching in 2002, and this year in Cycle 12, C&V has fostered the development of over 84 composers & librettists.

Composers & the Voice is made possible in part by a generous multi-year award from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and a Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts. AOP’s programs are made possible in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., the Amphion Foundation, BMI, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor, and the New York State Legislature and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

For more information, visit: https://www.aopopera.org/composers-voice

Founded in 1988, American Opera Projects (AOP) has been at the forefront of contemporary opera for over 30 years. The Brooklyn-based producing organization commissions, develops and produces lyric theater projects, trains emerging composers and librettists, and creates personal connections within its community. Its works have received critical acclaim at opera companies and venues around the world, establishing a new musical canon that recognizes the operatic story in every life. AOP further expands the operatic field through its training programs The NYU Opera Lab, in partnership with NYU and for students and alumni in The NYU/Tisch Opera Lab; and Composers & the Voice, AOP’s in-house, two-year fellowship program for emerging composers and librettists.

Media Contact:

AOP PR Dept.

email: info@aopopera.org

Press material is available at: www.aopopera.org/press