Resonant Bodies Festival Announces NYC 2019 Lineup
“A festival suffused with purpose and ambition.” ResBods returns to Brooklyn’s Roulette Intermedium for its 7th annual festival this September 3-5, 2019. Featured artists include Kate Soper, Arooj Aftab, Anthony Roth Costanzo, and Charmaine Lee with guest artists Conrad Tao, Vijay Iyer, Wet Ink Ensemble, Ashley Bathgate.
May 29, 2019
DETAILS
NYC 2019 RESONANT BODIES FESTIVAL
Roulette | 509 Atlantic Ave | Brooklyn, NY 11217
FESTIVAL PRICING
$50 Festival Pass for all three nights
$75 Superfan Festival Pass includes VIP seating + drink ticket
PER NIGHT PRICING
Presale tickets: $20 standard; $30 Superfan presale with VIP seating + drink ticket
Door tickets: $20 student; $25 general
““In equal measures intelligent, playful, ambitious and moving, the program illuminated the shape-shifting power of the human voice.” ”
That intoxicating review of the inaugural Resonant Bodies Festival in 2013 marked its arrival as an immediately valuable contributor to the city’s music scene. The festival has since evolved into something akin to New York Fashion Week for the new music set, offering a chance for buck-the-trendsetters to experience the high-energy epicenter of experimental vocal music.
The flagship festival returns to Roulette this September 3-5, kicking off the concert season with three fast-paced nights of vocal luminaries and artistic renegades converging in the best “see and be seen” creative energy New York has to offer.
LINEUP
September 3
Charmaine Lee • Anthony Roth Costanzo • Jane Sheldon
September 4
Anaïs Maviel • Kate Soper • Ted Hearne
September 5
Stephanie Blythe • Arooj Aftab • Erin Gee
"From Song Came Symphony" is 'A Wide-Ranging Night of African-American Music Served up with Fire And Feeling'
The Burleigh Society and Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra co-production “landed with earth-shattering force.”
May 9, 2019
Photo by Richard Burrowes, International Center of Photography alum
“From Song Came Symphony,” a co-production of the Harry T. Burleigh Society and Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra, has earned critical acclaim. The performance, tracing the symphonic influence of Burleigh’s compositions, included the NYC premiere of Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and William Grant Still’s rarely heard oratorio And They Lynched Him on A Tree.
““The baleful concluding oracle landing with earth-shattering force.””
The New York Classical Review praised Still’s piece, saying it “does indeed still pack a wallop” as it “provides a new context for Still’s account of a black life that mattered, and his fervent words of warning at the end.”
San Francisco Classical Voice hailed Burleigh as a “titanic figure in U.S. music history,” praising the performance of his “work’s deft inner voices with great clarity” and the “rich and seamless sound” of the orchestra’s string section. In the Price Concerto, “Kelly Hall-Tompkins covered the solo part with unflappable poise, bringing a luscious radiance to her lower register. The orchestra swooned and incandesced with theatrical fervor.”
Read the full review from New York Classical Review >
Read the full review from San Francisco Classical Voice >
Harry T. Burleigh's 'Pioneering Influence' Recognized by All Arts
“Organizers have sought to recognize creators who unflinchingly detailed Black experiences despite the risk of offending a powerful white establishment.” An All Arts preview examines the influence of Harry T. Burleigh on generations of African American classical musicians.
May 3, 2019
Photo by Shateek Mitchell, International Center of Photography alum
““’Burleigh wrote music that was both immediately recognizable to the ear as having African-American music idiom influence — and music that was not,’ explained Marti Slaten, the executive director of the Harry T. Burleigh Society. She said his success in skirting that delicate line between two seemingly disparate genres created space not only for him, but also for future generations of Black artists and creatives.””
Ahead of their May 8 concert at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Harry T. Burleigh Society spoke with All Arts about their second collaboration with the Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra.
The concert, to include the NYC premiere of Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and the rarely performed William Grant Still oratorio And They Lynched Him on A Tree, is designed to showcase symphonic composers influenced by Burleigh’s work.
All Arts wrote that the concert will “recognize creators who unflinchingly detailed Black experiences despite the risk of offending a powerful white establishment.”
Read the preview >
Burleigh Society Concert at Carnegie Hall Praised for Performance, Promise
“A stinging rebuke to still-active demeaning stereotypes that cast black people as sassy, loud, and unrefined.” The Harry T. Burleigh Society concert, featuring the Fisk Jubilee Singers, earned critical acclaim from the Log Journal.
March 6, 2019
Photo by Sara Beth Turner
““Burleigh’s spiritual arrangements are artful and jewel-like, deftly weaving voices into a seamless texture [with] aching suspensions and rich, surprising dissonances…””
The March 2 Harry T. Burleigh Society concert at Carnegie Hall, featuring the Fisk Jubilee Singers, earned critical acclaim from the Log Journal.
“While it would technically be accurate to call the Jubilee Singers a college a cappella ensemble, the designation does not do them justice. They sing, with uncanny precision, in a plush bel canto style… It allowed for the haunting, otherworldly conclusion to In Bright Mansions. In a haloed murmur, the basses sang a repeating descending figure, lingering on each note that rubbed against the diaphanous held chord in the upper voices – a frisson of quiet ecstasy, a premonition of Heaven."
“Wade in the Water is…a pungent, brooding arrangement of a tune laced with buried, righteous anger. In the quiet, refined style of the Fisk Singers, it was hair-raising. Other songs affirmed the necessity of hope, promising Heaven as a release from literal bondage; Wade in the Water affirmed the necessity of justice, promising a reckoning far too long overdue.”
Jorge Mejia and An Open Book Nominated for Latin Grammy
Mejia’s “Prelude in F Major for Piano and Orchestra,” from his album An Open Book, was nominated for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
September 20, 2018
Photo by Laura Coppelman
Jorge Mejia’s memoir in music, An Open Book, has been nominated for a Latin Grammy Award. The album comprises 25 preludes for piano and orchestra, with the composer appearing as pianist alongside the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.
A Steinway Artist, Jorge is a masterful storyteller dedicated to bringing new audiences to classical music. He was recently profiled in Billboard Magazine, graced the cover of Músico Pro Magazine, and was interviewed on WLRN Radio. Immediately following its Miami launch concert, An Open Book was hailed as "an instant classic...a rigorous and eclectic work" by El Nuevo Herald.
Mejia’s “Prelude in F Major for Piano and Orchestra” was nominated for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. The winner will be announced at the 2018 Latin Grammy Awards Show on November 15.
Turn The Spotlight Foundation to Mentor Arts Leaders
Turn The Spotlight’s mission is to identify, nurture, and empower leaders, and in turn, illuminate the path to a more equitable future in the arts. The foundation was created to pair top-tier mentors with exceptional women, people of color, and other equity-seeking groups in the arts.
July 31, 2018
Lumos Fellows Elena Uriote and Melissa White. Photo by Daniel Cavazos
Today, twenty-one arts leaders and activists announce the launch of Turn The Spotlight, a foundation created to pair top-tier mentors with exceptional women, people of color, and other equity-seeking groups in the arts. Beth Stewart, a New York City-based arts entrepreneur and classical music publicist, will lead the foundation, which is supported by an Advisory Board of arts world luminaries, including soprano Julia Bullock, journalists Anne Midgette and Celeste Headlee, conductors Lidiya Yankovskaya and Nicole Paiement, stage director Francesca Zambello, classical music publicist Mary Lou Falcone, arts advocates Monica Yunus and Camille Zamora, and women’s rights advocate Amanda Mejia.
“We believe that systemic change is crucial,” said Turn The Spotlight Founder Beth Stewart. “We also believe that one-on-one mentoring can have real impact, particularly in an industry in which so many professionals are freelancers working outside an established institutional framework. Our mission is to identify, nurture, and empower leaders, and in turn, illuminate the path to a more equitable future in the arts.”
Stewart has recruited ten industry-leading mentors from a wide range of artistic specialties, including Emmy Award-winning documentarian Kristin Atwell Ford, producer/director Avery Willis Hoffman, Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, and composer Kamala Sankaram. They will join arts activists Alysia Lee, Rebecca McFaul and Anne Francis Bayless, sopranos Heidi Melton and Corinne Winters, and designer Jessica Jahn in mentoring the foundation’s fellows during the 2018/19 season.
“Nearly all of our first cohort of Lumos Fellows have founded organizations, produced or commissioned new work. Each has a distinctive voice and clear personal mission, and they are committed to using their art to strengthen their communities. We believe these versatile and inventive arts leaders and activists are the way forward,” said Stewart.
The 2018/19 Lumos Fellows will collaborate on a striking breadth of projects, ranging from building community investment in arts entrepreneurship to developing a line of gender non-binary swimwear, and confronting personal violence through performance. The Fellows include vocalist Lucy Dhegrae, founder of the Resonant Bodies Festival, director/producer Jamil Jude, founder of The New Griots Festival, violinist and Fulbright Scholar Teagan Faran, who studies how music can strengthen community togetherness, and composer Frances Pollock, whose music examines social issues through collaboration outside traditional academic circles.
Emerging classical singers Rehanna Thelwell, Felicia Moore, and Anush Avetisyan, costume designer Sueann Leung, and DC Strings Artistic Director Andrew Lee will round out the first cohort, along with violinists Elena Urioste and Melissa White, whose company Intermission was founded to teach musicians yoga techniques to support the demanding physicality and emotional undertaking of performance.
At the conclusion of the mentorship season in May, one Lumos Fellow will be chosen by the Spotlight Advisory Board to receive the Hedwig Holbrook Prize, to include $5,000 and a website designed by Stewart’s PR firm, Verismo Communications.
“It’s my hope that this prize, named in honor of the late soprano Jennifer Holbrook, will represent a galvanizing force in one fellow’s life each season,” said Stewart. “I expect each of our Lumos Fellows to emerge from this experience with a clearer vision of the path of his or her personal mission, and a deeper well of fuel to get there.”
Though the organization’s day-to-day operations will be focused on individual mentorship, Turn The Spotlight leaders hope that their cumulative efforts will contribute to addressing inequity across sectors of the arts industry.
“The classical music industry continues to lag woefully behind when it comes to diversity, especially in leadership positions within larger-budget organizations,” said conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya, founder of the Refugee Orchestra Project and the only female Music Director in the top 50 opera companies in the United States. “Turn the Spotlight is providing the essential mentorship and support those from marginalized groups require in order to reach high-level career goals. I am thrilled to be part of this vital resource for deserving artists across the field.”
“The arts provide the prism through which we can first envision, and then build, a better and more just world,” added Camille Zamora, co-founder of Sing for Hope and a leading voice in the artist-as-citizen movement. “Turn The Spotlight is poised to do exactly what the name suggests: refocus the illuminating power of the arts.”
Jorge Mejia's Musical Memoir Featured in Billboard Magazine
"Success for Mejía…has come easy, in part, because he can relate. Mejía is a musician himself, a pianist-composer who is known for connecting on a visceral and musical level with his songwriters.” Billboard Magazine talks with Jorge Mejia about bridging worlds, genres, and cultures.
June 29, 2018
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia talked with Billboard Magazine about An Open Book: A Memoir in Music.
"Success for Mejía -- who also has deals with "Despacito" co-writers Erika Ender and Daddy Yankee, and signed Colombian superstar Maluma to a global publishing deal in 2017 -- has come easy, in part, because he can relate. Mejía is a musician himself, a pianist-composer with a performance degree from the University of Miami who is known for connecting on a visceral and musical level with his songwriters.
Now, Mejía is further exploring his own talents. In May, he released An Open Book: A Memoir in Music, a book and album of short classical piano pieces with orchestral accompaniment that tell his own story as a bicultural, bilingual artist. The Open Book Latin American Tour, which Mejía narrates and performs, has included performances in Ecuador and Uruguay. Here, Mejía speaks about his music, Fonsi's success and betting on the Latin market."
Riders Opera Finalist in NYF Radio Awards
"Monumental and well-crafted…Craig Bohmler's Riders of the Purple Sage can now lay claim to a rightful place in the canon of works about the American West." WFMT's American Opera Series broadcast of Riders has been named a finalist in the New York Festivals Radio Awards.
June 27, 2017
The WFMT broadcast of Riders of the Purple Sage, the world premiere opera written by Olivier Award-nominated composer Craig Bohmler and commissioned by Arizona Opera, aired in 400 cities throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
The broadcast, hosted by Naomi Lewin and co-produced by Kristin Atwell Ford, has now been recognized as a Finalist in the New York Festivals Radio Awards "Best Music Special" category.
An Open Book Is 'An Instant Classic'
"An instant classic...a rigorous and eclectic work." El Nuevo Herald reviews the sold-out launch concert of Jorge Mejia’s musical memoir.
May 7, 2018
Photo by WorldRedEye.com
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia launched his new musical memoir, An Open Book, at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center, sharing excerpts of his narratives and orchestral piano preludes with the sold-out audience.
El Nuevo Herald calls it "an instant classic...a rigorous and eclectic work."
An e-book alternating narrative vignettes with orchestral preludes recorded by the composer with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, An Open Book is inspired by Mejia’s colorful family history in Colombia, musical coming-of-age, and charming romantic misadventures en route to meeting his wife, women’s rights advocate Amanda Mejia.
Jorge Mejia Lands on Cover of Músico Pro Magazine
“He delves with ivory keys into intimacies that words can not reach.” Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia talks with the magazine about stories, music, and straddling worlds of genre.
May 2, 2018
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia is on the cover of the special 22nd Anniversary edition of Spanish-language Músico Pro Magazine, in a feature titled "A Life Dreaming In Music".
“I sat down with Jorge Mejía in his home, at the foot of a beautiful Steinway, where he generously interlaced original pieces and sections of well-known melodies to better illustrate his responses. It turns out to be a particularly suitable dynamic given the concept of the most recent addition of its repertoire. His most ambitious project as a composer and performer is titled An Open Book: A Musical Memoir, and offers a narrative as a prelude to each instrumental piece, where he delves with ivory keys into intimacies that words can not reach.”
An Open Book Featured on WLRN's Sundial
Luis Hernandez interviews Jorge Mejia in a segment that also includes a reading and orchestral excerpts from this musical memoir.
May 1, 2018
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia joins Luis Hernandez on Sundial on WLRN in Miami to discuss An Open Book: A Memoir in Music.
Featuring a taste of An Open Book's innovative musical and narrative blend, Mejia's interview closes out the episode, beginning ~36:42.
An e-book alternating narrative vignettes with orchestral preludes recorded by the composer with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, An Open Book is inspired by Mejia’s colorful family history in Colombia, musical coming-of-age, and charming romantic misadventures en route to meeting his wife, women’s rights advocate Amanda Mejia.
An Open Book will be celebrated with a reading and performance at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. The performance will feature a chamber orchestra, including members of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, accompanying the composer at the piano. Co-presented by Miami cultural mainstay Books & Books, the launch concert kicks off Mejia’s Latin American tour, which will also include appearances in Ecuador and Uruguay.
Pianist and Composer Jorge Mejia Profiled in UM Connect
"Being in Miami allowed me to continue growing as a multicultural citizen, and I never felt that my identity had to be wrapped up in just one facet of who I am." Ahead of the release of An Open Book: A Memoir in Music on Sony Latin, composer and pianist Jorge Mejia is profiled in UM Connect.
April 25, 2018
Photo by Laura Coppelman
““Being in Miami allowed me to continue growing as a multicultural citizen, and I never felt that my identity had to be wrapped up in just one facet of who I am.””
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia speaks with UM Connect about cultural identity, recording with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, and sneaking into Frost to practice piano as a high school student!
An e-book alternating narrative vignettes with orchestral preludes recorded by the composer with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, An Open Book is inspired by Mejia’s colorful family history in Colombia, musical coming-of-age, and charming romantic misadventures en route to meeting his wife, women’s rights advocate Amanda Mejia.
An Open Book will be celebrated with a reading and performance at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. The performance will feature a chamber orchestra, including members of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, accompanying the composer at the piano. Co-presented by Miami cultural mainstay Books & Books, the launch concert kicks off Mejia’s Latin American tour, which will also include appearances in Ecuador and Uruguay.
Jorge Mejia Featured in El Nuevo Herald
“A musician who exemplifies the confluence that makes Miami unique.” Ahead of the release of An Open Book: A Memoir in Music on Sony Latin, composer and pianist Jorge Mejia speaks with El Nuevo Herald.
April 22, 2018
Photo by Laura Coppelman
““A musician who exemplifies the confluence that makes Miami unique.””
Ahead of the release of An Open Book: A Memoir in Music, pianist and composer Jorge Mejia spoke with El Nuevo Herald about cultural identity, musical genres, and how his dual careers inspire his work in both Latin music and classical music.
An e-book alternating narrative vignettes with orchestral preludes recorded by the composer with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, An Open Book is inspired by Mejia’s colorful family history in Colombia, musical coming-of-age, and charming romantic misadventures en route to meeting his wife, women’s rights advocate Amanda Mejia.
An Open Book will be celebrated with a reading and performance at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. The performance will feature a chamber orchestra, including members of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, accompanying the composer at the piano. Co-presented by Miami cultural mainstay Books & Books, the launch concert kicks off Mejia’s Latin American tour, which will also include appearances in Ecuador and Uruguay.
Jorge Mejia to release genre-bending "An Open Book: A Memoir in Music"
A heavyweight in the Latin music world, classical composer and pianist Jorge Mejia releases AN OPEN BOOK: A Memoir in Music on Sony Latin on May 4, 2018. This ambitious genre-blending project, born of Mejia’s devotion to storytelling in all its forms, is an e-book alternating narrative vignettes with orchestral preludes recorded by the composer with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.
March 20, 2018
““Jorge Mejia’s world is imagery, cinema, storytelling, and he doesn’t hold back.””
Photo by Laura Coppelman
To be released via Sony Music Latin, An Open Book: A Memoir in Music is an ambitious genre-blending project, born of Mejia's devotion to storytelling in all its forms. An audiobook alternating narrative vignettes with orchestral preludes recorded by the composer with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, An Open Book is inspired by Mejia’s colorful family history in Colombia, musical coming-of-age, and charming romantic misadventures en route to meeting his wife, women’s rights advocate Amanda Mejia.
Drawing on his experiences as an immigrant in America, Mejia’s evocative compositional style explores intersections of identity, culture, and language. Mejia’s compositions have been played by the Nu Deco Ensemble and Miami Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who described his preludes as “almost a genre of their own. Composed to be performed next to spoken text, they create a wonderful cinematic effect, full of vibrant colors and lush melodies.”
Also available as an e-book with musical tracks, An Open Book will be celebrated with a reading and performance at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. The performance will feature a chamber orchestra, including members of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra, accompanying the composer at the piano. Co-presented by Miami cultural mainstay Books & Books, the launch concert kicks off Mejia’s Latin American tour, which will also include appearances in Ecuador and Uruguay.
Riders Opera Airs Worldwide
"An opera as monumental and well-crafted as Craig Bohmler's Riders of the Purple Sage can now lay claim to a rightful place in the canon of works about the American West. Riders is literally and figuratively blazing new trails, demonstrating the relevance and value of the age old genre in a dynamic and memorable production." Arizona Opera's first commissioned world premiere airs on WFMT's American Opera Series in over 400 cities.
November 25, 2017
Riders of the Purple Sage, Arizona Opera's first-ever world commission by Olivier Award-nominated composer Craig Bohmler, shattered box office records for the company. Now, audiences outside of Arizona can hear this American Western Opera, via WFMT's American Opera Series, airing to more than 400 cities worldwide.
Details of broadcast >
Jorge Mejia Is Billboard Magazine Latin Power Player
"Mejia's investment in 'Despacito' has paid dividends beyond anything he could have imagined. Penned by Sony/ATV's own Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Erika Ender, the global hit, which spent 16 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, is the most streamed song of all time, with 4.6 billion streams and counting. 'We always thought the day would come when there would be light at the end of the digital tunnel," says Mejia. "It's starting to happen.'"
November 6, 2017
“Definition of crossover: “When my wife’s family – they’re from a town in Kansas – sings one of my songs.””
Composer and pianist Jorge Mejia has landed on Billboard's Latin Power Players 2017 list, honoring music industry professionals who are "nurturing the scene and helping reshape the culture."
The Miami Symphony Orchestra (MISO) will play his compositions alongside music from Gershwin to Tchaikovsky as part of #MisoChic, an immersive multimedia experience melding music and extraordinary fashion at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
Read the full Latin Power Players list.
Learn more about Jorge and MISO-Chic.
Jorge Mejia Named A Steinway Artist
A Steinway Artist featured in Billboard Magazine’s “40 under 40” and “Latin Power Players” lists, classical pianist and composer Jorge Mejia defies easy categorization.
October 18, 2017
““Steinway represents everything I strive for as an artist: an unflinching dedication to beauty and unparalleled artistry. There is simply no other piano for me.””
Featured in Billboard Magazine’s “40 under 40” and “Latin Power Players” lists, classical pianist and composer Jorge Mejia defies easy categorization. His impassioned performances and evocative compositional style are enriched by his role as a leader in the Latin music world, infusing all facets of his work with a keenly global perspective.
Jorge has now been named a Steinway Artist by Steinway & Sons. He is thrilled to join the ranks of such legendary artists as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arthur Rubinstein, and Keith Jarrett.
Jorge Mejia's Preludes Played by Simone Dinnerstein in Miami
"A full-scale and colorful mosaic. Mejia’s world is imagery, cinema, storytelling, and he doesn’t hold back..." Dinnerstein and the Havana Lyceum Orchestra feature Mejia's preludes in their first U.S. tour.
June 23, 2017
““A full-scale and colorful mosaic. Mejia’s world is imagery, cinema, storytelling, and he doesn’t hold back...””
Hosted by the New World Symphony, excerpts from Jorge Mejia's set of preludes were recently played by pianist Simone Dinnerstein, accompanied by the Havana Lyceum Orchestra in their first U.S. tour. Dinnerstein describes the preludes as “almost a genre of their own. Composed to be performed next to spoken text, they create a wonderful cinematic effect, full of vibrant colors and lush melodies.”
Read reviews and previews:
"To complete the panorama were Four Preludes for Piano by the Colombian Jorge Mejia – a full-scale and colorful mosaic. Mejia’s world is imagery, cinema, storytelling, and he doesn’t hold back. The composer narrated in Spanish before each prelude, in a trip through childhood and adolescence that portrayed his life experience, with Dinnerstein personifying it at the piano."
El Nuevo Herald
"The brilliant American pianist Simone Dinnerstein was the featured soloist in a program that included two Mozart piano concertos, four delightful sketches by Jorge Mejia, and Aaron Copland... Not since the Vietnam War have I seen our country so divided and discontent and with so little prospect for peace and unity behind our shared American values. But this concert showed me that we can, with good will, kindness and principled compromise, find ways to bridge our divisions and come together. Yes, we are turning, turning, but we will 'come ‘round right.'"
Miami Herald
"Opening the program is a special performance of preludes by composer Jorge Mejia. Each prelude is a piece of the story of Mejia’s life of coming from Colombia to the U.S. The story of his family and his sensitivity will be narrated in Spanish as the orchestra and piano play. 'To have a pianist of Simone Dinnerstein’s caliber and to have an orchestra like this performing the pieces is absolutely exhilarating,' said Mejia."
WLRN
Riders Opera World Premiere Success Inspires $1 Million Donation
The impact of Craig Bohmler's Riders of the Purple Sage continues to be felt across the Southwest. Inspired by the success of Riders, major donors have now pledged a $1 million gift to Arizona Opera.
April 27, 2017
Scott Stallard remembers sitting in the Phoenix audience early last month and getting “goosies” the moment the curtain rose for Arizona Opera’s “Riders of the Purple Sage.”
“It was stunning,” Stallard said Monday. “We saw that show and we had a glimpse of the future and how increasingly exciting ... it is going forward. We just wanted to be a part of that.”
Last week, Stallard and his wife, Marlu Allan, donated $1 million to Arizona Opera to support bringing similarly exciting new works to the stage.
Riders of the Purple Sage Featured in Etched Magazine
Craig Bohmler's world premiere at Arizona Opera is featured in the Fall 2016 issue.
September 1, 2016
"In just the first few pages of Zane Grey’s classic novel, Riders of the Purple Sage, fearless gunslingers and men on horseback tear through unforgiving mountains as emotions become as extreme as their surroundings: jealousy looms like a fatal precipice, and love ignites like a brushfire.
It’s a fitting opening for a story where the land and its inhabitants are inextricably linked, where every action takes its cue from the rough terrain, the lush plant life that thrives in spite of challenges, the rhythms of horse hooves and the crashing of storms.
It’s also a perfect beginning for an opera."
Riders of the Purple Sage, by composer Craig Bohmler, will receive its world premiere at Arizona Opera February 25 – March 5, 2017. Featuring baritone Morgan Smith, soprano Karin Wolverton, and tenor Joshua Dennis, the world premiere will be conducted by Keitaro Harada, directed by Fenlon Lamb, and feature set design by world-famous Southwest landscape artist Ed Mell.
Learn about the opera, based on Zane Grey's most famous Western novel, and purchase tickets.