American Opera Presents FIRST GLIMPSE

The performances will be held in the Great Room at South Oxford Space in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the home of AOP, and the Laurie Beechman Theater at the West Bank Café in the theatre district of Manhattan. Audiences will get to hear selections written by Clint Borzoni, Kristin Kuster, Raymond J. Lustig, Jack Perla, Gregory Spears, and Andrew Staniland – six emerging composers who were chosen by AOP to spend a year creating new works focusing on the operatic voice.

Performing the selections will be the AOP Resident Ensemble of Singers for the 07-08 season: sopranos Caroline Worra (New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera) and Donna Smith (Glimmerglass Opera), mezzo Abigail Fischer (New York Collegium, the Rebel Ensemble), baritone Matthew Worth (OTSL, Glimmerglass Opera), and bass Matthew Curran (New Jersey Opera, New Orleans Opera). Accompanying on piano will be Jennifer Peterson and Kelly Horsted.

Created and led by former AOP Artistic Director Steven Osgood, Composers & the Voice began in 2002 and is currently in its fifth season. Every year American Opera Projects selects six composers to work with the company's Resident Ensemble of Singers for the nationally recognized workshop series. The primary focus of the Composers & the Voice Series is to give composers extensive experience working collaboratively with singers on writing for the voice. Participants meet in closed sessions from November to May to present and discuss new works composed specifically for the individual voices of the Resident Ensemble. The presentations on May 8 and 9 will be the first public performances of compositions created during this year's workshops.

This year, esteemed composers Tan Dun (The First Emperor, Marco Polo) and Stephen Schwartz (Séance on a Wet Afternoon, Wicked, Godspell) have joined Composers & the Voice as "composer chairs." Mr. Tan and Mr. Schwartz will join composers Mark Adamo, Lee Hoiby, Dick Peaslee, and Tobias Picker in supporting and fostering the program. Each of these distinguished composers will be personally associated with a selected C&V composer throughout the season with opportunities to hear their work, join C&V discussions, and provide one-on-one feedback. -- www.operaprojects.org