‘OPERA IN FLIGHT: new scenes & one-acts’
Join us at 8:00 on April 2 and 3 at the Gershwin Hotel
World première of the one-act opera
music by Clint Borzoni, libretto by Emily Conbere
based on Ray Bradbury’s ‘All Summer in a Day’
AND:
Anniversary – a one-act opera
music and libretto by Edward Ficklin
AND:
three scenes from the opera-in-progress
Paradises Lost
music by Stephen Andrew Taylor, libretto by Marcia Johnson
based on Ursula K. Le Guin’s novella by the same name
AND:
‘Forms of Flight’ for solo clarinet
by George Flynn
performed by founding member of Anaphora Ensemble
clarinetist Cory Tiffin
for more details, read the press release
tweet it
visit the Facebook event page
and send your support.
This is a co-presentation of
and Neke Carson at
Welcome to the operamission weblog!
We did lots more Handel.
Thank you Dan. Thank you Caroline, David, Matthew, Amy, Alteouise – you were all fabulous. Thank you to the HANDEL Band – Joan Plana, Beth Wenstrom, Audrey Selph, and of course the unfailingly smooth continuo support of cellist Ezra Seltzer. Very special thanks to Scott Embler for helping with the set-up and creating the mood. And of course thanks to Neke Carson for hosting us again at the wonderful Gershwin Hotel. We’ll be back soon!
It seems as if the program itself was one of the hits of the evening, so here it is for those of you who missed it – a PDF of the program.
And here is a lovely blog review from Abigail Wright.
We are very hard at work at the next presentation – a big one. So stay tuned for OPERA IN FLIGHT: new scenes and one-acts. Here is the Facebook Event Page, with more PR goodies coming soon.
And if you are liking what you are hearing & seeing, and want to hear/see more, send us your support today!
Our lovely audience for Keith Jameson/Cabaret Songs this past Friday enjoyed a fabulous evening. Keith sang approximately nine million words and won all hearts. Thank you all for coming and supporting operamission and the Greenwood Music Festival.
Great news — the Gershwin Hotel now has a liquor license, so grab a glass of wine and sample of cheeses from the café off the lobby to enjoy your next performance experience even more.
Please see support page to make your tax deductible contributions which will go towards our next two shows:
HANDEL at the Gershwin – Wednesday 3 March 2010 at 8:00 pm
Six magnificent voices in gems and rarities from George Frideric Handel’s London Operaswith baroque instruments
sopranos Amy van Roekel and Caroline Worra mezzo-soprano Alteouise deVaughn countertenor Daniel Bubeck tenor Matthew Garrett bass David Salsbery Fry
baroque violins Joan Plana and Beth Wenstrom baroque viola Audrey Selph baroque cello Ezra Seltzer led from the harpsichord by Jennifer Peterson
and then, in April…
OPERA IN FLIGHT: new scenes and one-acts
‘Margot Alone in the Light’ composer CLINT BORZONI librettist EMILY CONBERE based on Ray Bradbury’s ‘All Summer in a Day’ featuring soprano MARTHA GUTH as Margot‘Anniversary’ composer and librettist EDWARD FICKLIN featuring soprano ELIZABETH BROOKS as Claire
excerpts from ‘Paradises Lost’ (in-progress) composer STEPHEN ANDREW TAYLOR librettist MARCIA JOHNSON based on the novella by Ursula Le Guin featuring mezzo-soprano KIMBERLY SOGIOKA as Hsing
and ‘Forms of Flight’ by GEORGE FLYNN for solo clarinet featuring clarinetist CORY TIFFIN
two performances – Friday and Saturday, April 2 & 3, 2010 at 8:00 PM
all co-presented by Neke Carson at 
News has just arrived that operamission now has fiscal sponsorship to aid in our fundraising efforts. Upcoming events at the Gershwin Hotel will be drawing in a nice mix of public – we’re doing cabaret, we’re doing Handel, and we’re doing new operas. So there is truly something everyone can support, and now your monetary contributions are tax-deductible.
We are proud to be a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of operamission may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
To donate by check, please make it out to “Fractured Atlas” and send it to:
operamission 853 Seventh Avenue, Suite 2A New York, NY 10019Checks for $1,000 or more must be accompanied by a Major Gift Letter.
And to donate online, please click here.
And come to a performance! You’ll be glad you did….
Thank you for supporting operamission. And as our friends at Fort Worth Opera recently tweeted, “…we are all on the opera mission!”
‘HANDEL at the Gershwin’ was an all-around success this past Friday, and operamission cruises into the holiday season as a happy, healthy infant.
Composer Edward Ficklin captured the spirit of the evening here. If you missed it, and would like to peruse the printed program (yes, we hit on twelve Handel operas) go ahead and click on this pdf.
Due to all the generous sounds made by the performers, the full house of receptive fans, and general all-around enthusiasm, the Gershwin Hotel has invited us back; plans are afoot for the next showing.
I want to personally thank the incredibly talented and cooperative musicians who put in so much time and care, and who believed in the mission in order to make it happen:
Sharin Apostolou, Eva Gerard, Tim Hill, Jennifer Hines, Joan Plana, Ezra Seltzer, Gerald Thompson, and Beth Wenstrom.
THANK YOU ALL for ‘playing’ — and for doing something that’s never quite been done before.
Thank you John Miller from Pinnacle Arts Management, Inc. for stepping in as our master of ceremonies.
Thank you, artist Neke Carson, for hosting us at the Gershwin, and also for the jazz harpsichord jam send-off.
And of course, those dedicated ‘operamissionaries’ who volunteered their time and energy in helping with the logistics on Friday: Brian Anderson, Clint Borzoni, Scott Embler, Melissa Fogarty, Luis González, and Sarah Pillow — thank you for helping!
And thank you, Mr. Handel. You knew we could do it!
We are very excited about the continuing progress on Clint Borzoni’s new opera Antinous and Hadrian.
Composer Clint Borzoni, librettist Rochelle Bright, dramaturg Chuck Hudson and I held a nice productive meeting this past week. Clint and Rochelle have spent the summer hammering out a fully detailed synopsis. Rochelle has done brilliant work in fleshing out all of the characters and their relationships with each other, and has also ingeniously created some gripping thematic organization.
The opera will clearly have structure and pacing to its moments of tension and repose. And anyone who has ever worked with Chuck knows that he asks exactly the right questions to take the drama to the next level.
On top of all this impressive work, Clint has composed an orchestral introduction to Act II, scene 1 which did not fail to bring goosebumps on first hearing, second, and third. He and Rochelle have also done extensive revision work on this same scene.
Rochelle is capturing a tone in her use of language that is neither too heightened not too casual, yet this is one of the big questions. So we may bring some performers in next week in order to hear the words in other voices.
This is thrilling work. Please stay tuned for the next chapter of our progress. Very soon we will have a synopsis we can share. Rochelle thought to create a concise one-pager, as well as a thorough detailed one, which will smoothly feed into the actual sung text.
An evening of OPERA UNDER THE STARS
- Saturday, August 22, 7:00 pm -
Phoenicia Parish Field, nestled in the heart of the Catskill Mountains
featuring international opera stars:
MARIA TODARO
LOUIS OTEY
KERRY HENDERSON
full chorus
joined by pianists JUSTIN KOLB and JENNIFER PETERSON
- OPERA and MUSICAL THEATER HITS -

















