Talea Ensemble @ Players Theatre

How many concerts are happening this week?
Count the stars in the sky.
Measure the waters of the ocean with a teaspoon.
Number the grains of sand on the seashore.
Impossible you say?
Yes and it is just as impossible for me
to say how many concerts are happening this week.

So if you're not going to see Die Walküre (Don't do it!! Half of it is just a long slow boring retelling of Rheingold by Wotan accompanied by cellos and trombones!! It's NOT all riding here and hoy-a-hoy-a-hoy there all the time!) at the Met, then consider coming down to The Players Theatre in the West Village to hear some boot-stompin' new music from Europe, including two US premieres (Billone & Romitelli). The ensemble is awesome, and it's been a total joy to work with them. The music is unbelievably cool. How could you even think about Brunhilde on a night like this?

Talea Ensemble
Tuesday, April 28
The Players Theatre, NYC
115 MacDougal St. (in the West Village)
8pm
Works by Hurel, Ferneyhough, Billone, Rands, and the US Premier of Domeniche alla periferia dell'impero by the late Fausto Romitelli.

(n.)

Threepenny Retrospective

Plans are being laid for the next big thing (Nick's residency at High Concept Laboratories in June and July / Opera Cabal's residency at the same in August), but before too much time passes, I thought I'd throw up some pictures and thoughts from our recent Threepenny run at Riverside Theatre.

First the pics, then some thoughts.

All pics by Carol Rosegg, courtesy of Columbia Stages.

Daryl Brown (Balladeer)

Linn Maxwell (Mrs. Peachum) and cast

Rebecca Comerford (Lucy), Neal Moeller (Macheath), Caroline Kaplan (Polly)

Oliver Burns (Tiger Brown) and R.Paul Hamilton (Mr. Peachum)

Alyssa Ciccarello (Jenny) and Neal Moeller (Macheath)

Caroline Kaplan (Polly) and Linn Maxwell (Mrs. Peachum)

the cast

Opera Cabal
Kevin Sims, Chris Coletti, Steve Menotti, Eric Huebner, Amy Schumacher, Justin Kujawski, Amelia Lukas, Alejandro Acierto, Geoff Landman (Kobe van Cauwenbergh behind me), Nicholas DeMaison

Most of those photos and a bunch more are also floating around on Facebook.

Some of you may know that Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times was kind enough to review both our production of the Weill/Brecht and the Manhattan School of Music production of Britten's Beggar's Opera, which, coincidentally, was performed at the exact same time ... right across the street. A nice coincidence to get the attention of the Times, that. His full review can be read here:

The Sly and the Shady on Two Opera Stages

I think we all (those members of the production with whom I've discussed this) had (predictably) mixed feelings about the review. We were happy to get the attention, and perhaps a little TOO aware of being reviewed on opening night, particularly in a show locked in by such unique constraints (a mini-budget, academic production crammed into a creation process designed to showcase a "standard" 70-minute thesis show with a 7-person creative team). It probably goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, that by Friday night it was an alarmingly different show (and really now, I'm not just saying this out of a sense of self-preservation ... authorities as unbiased as my Mom can vouch for that truth since she sat through all of the first three performances!), and if the review had come on Saturday night instead of Wednesday night, I have strong suspicions that much of the underhanded-style complimenting would have been unnecessary. When I read the piece Thursday night, I thought, "Well, he's being honest. We WERE shaky last night." But mostly I found it to be an interesting wake-up call -- a realization of the danger and the glory that accompany the possibility, perhaps unique to NYC, that even an M.F.A. production could be graced with a glance from the likes of the Times.

In the end, it may be enough that Opera Cabal is on the radar ... and next time we'll be ready, particularly on opening night.

Before going away again, I thought I might also add some more photos from the December show at the AV-aerie that have also recently surfaced. I think these are all by Andy Gricevich of The Nonsense Company, and are all taken at rehearsals in High Concept Laboratories.

Rick Burkhardt

Corey Bertelsen

Nicholas DeMaison (apparently trying to fly)

And some ensemble shots

(n.)

SALON XXII

Hats off to the rough & tumble crowd who trekked through something between sleet and Armageddon to come out for last night's salon. Presentations ranged from the propagandistic to Gotan Project-esque (the world premiere of Charlie Williams' group, Truco, to my great mirth featured an instrument that mimics a Bandoneón but has no bellows and is operated by blowing into a tube that connects to a weird piano-looking thing, making the player of this contraption look like a brain in a vat). David Bashwiner completed his lecture series "3 Interesting Pop Songs" with a brief look at "All By Myself," which, in an odd twist of fate, is owned by the Rachmaninoff estate. Finally, a guest appearance from Alberta's Emma Hooper, a wonderful reader of her own writings.

Stay tuned for May.

-m.