AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS presents Party of Five

Five World Premiere twenty-minute, semi-staged operas created in C&V 2023-25

to be presented on May 30 and 31, 2025 at 7:30pm

Brooklyn, NY - American Opera Projects (AOP) announces Composers & the Voice: Party of Five, a concert of five World Premiere semi-staged operas written by the current composers and librettists of Composers & the Voice, the free vocal-writing fellowship program that has been the starting point for some of today’s most recognized opera creators. The operas will be held at 7:30pm on May 30 and 31, 2025 in The Great Room of the A.R.T./NY South Oxford Space in Fort Greene (138 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217).

Tickets are $25 at https://tinyurl.com/tv2hch8d

After 22 years, 72 singers, and 84 composers and librettist fellowships in Composers & the Voice, new funding is needed to replace the generous Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts. Both funders have changed directions in their goals. The program will be on hiatus following Party of Five.

AOP will continue producing the AOP-NYU/Tisch Opera Lab, launched in 2015.

Composers & the Voice is led by Artistic Director Steven Osgood, Head of Music Mila Henry, and Head of Drama Matt Gray and the AOP Staff, Charles Jarden, Joel Kalow and Ziyan Yang. The lead instructors for the fellowship are Elena Araoz (acting), Terry Greiss (improv), and Mark Campbell (libretto writing). Peggy Monastra, Shawn Marie Jeffery, Bill Holab, and Stephanie Fleischmann led special guest instructor sessions.

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.

The Party of Five operas: THE ASTRO CAT, inspired by the true story of the first (and only) cat in space; UNDONE, wherein mysterious voices seduce a woman into committing a murder; FOREVER ENTWINED, a French-Caribbean love triangle leads to revenge; THE SWITCH, an experimental piece in which the performers swap between roles; and BRATHWAITE'S MECCA, an opera that takes place at the beginning of the Black Arts Movement in Harlem.

Party of Five will be performed by members of the C&V Resident Ensemble of Singers: sopranos Natalie Trumm and MaKayla McDonald, mezzo-soprano Ilene Pabon, tenor Robert Anthony Mack, baritone Phillip Bullock, and bass-baritone Tyler Putnam. Each of the operas were composed specifically for the singers after months of study and experimentation during the program. Supporting on piano will be C&V Music Directors Mila Henry, Kelly Horsted, Emma Luyendijk, and Kyle P. Walker. The operas will be directed in a semi-stage format by Diego Alejandro González and Kate Pitt.

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, the New York Community Trust Witherspoon Fund, 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