The Boston Modern Orchestra Project Releases Debut Recording of Arnold Rosner's The Chronicle of Nine Opera

Arnold Rosner: The Chronicle of Nine: The Tragedy of Queen Jane (#1801)

Composer: Arnold Rosner (1945-2013)

Release Date: September 7, 2021

TRT: Disc One: 81:36 Disc Two: 49:42

Works: The Chronicle of Nine: The Tragedy of Queen Jane (1984)

Performers: Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and Odyssey Opera led by Gil Rose (conductor), soprano Megan Pachecano (Lady Jane Grey), baritone James Demler (Earl of Arundel), bass David Salsbery Fry (Earl of Pembroke), baritone Aaron Engebreth (John Dudley), mezzo-soprano Krista River (Lady Dudley), tenor Eric Carey (Guildford Dudley), tenor William Hite (Henry Grey), contralto Rebecca Krouner (Frances Grey), contralto Stephanie Kacoyanis (Lady Mary), and tenor Gene Stenger (A Minstrel)

Boston, MA (For Release 09.07.21) — Known as the nation’s foremost label launched by an orchestra and devoted exclusively to new music, BMOP/sound today announced the world premiere recording of Arnold Rosner’s opera The Chronicle of Nine: The Tragedy of Queen Jane. It took the initiative of conductor Gil Rose and Rosner’s archivist, Carson Cooman, along with the combined forces of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and Odyssey Opera, to introduce The Chronicle of Nine to audiences and listeners alike decades after its completion. This marks the fourth recording collaboration between Rose’s two musical enterprises—including Tobias Picker’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which won a 2020 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording on the BMOP/sound label.

Rosner’s first completed opera never benefited from a staging until 2020 when Rose premiered it at Jordan Hall at Boston’s New England Conservatory to much acclaim. “Operas should not wait four decades to receive a premiere—especially a work so inviting as Arnold Rosner’s The Chronicle of Nine.” (Opera News) Written by Rosner on spec and finished in 1984, Cooman reconstructed this operatic oddity that had never been performed or recorded in full until now. “Thanks to BMOP and Odyssey Opera, and Gil Rose’s penchant for recording, Arnold Rosner might be set to reach a larger set of listeners than ever.” (The Boston Globe)

Rosner died in 2013 leaving over 100 published works—many of which were never performed during his lifetime—and some have not been heard by any audience. With a libretto by Florence Stevenson, The Chronicle of Nine concerns the character of Lady Jane Grey (performed by internationally renowned soprano Megan Pachecano), Henry VIII’s great-granddaughter, whose marriage and ascendancy were arranged despite her. Her nine-day reign ended with one of English history’s most notorious beheadings when the forces of Mary Tudor overthrew and ultimately condemned her. According to Rosner, The Chronicle of Nine was the original name of Ms. Stevenson’s stage play, and she meant it to refer to the number of days of Jane’s reign. “But in the opera the title refers not only to that but to the number of active singing roles and the number of scenes in which there is vocal action.”

About BMOP/sound          
BMOP/sound, BMOP’s independent record label, was created in 2008 to provide a platform for BMOP’s extensive archive of music, as well as to provide widespread, top-quality, permanent access to both classics of the 20th century and the music of today’s most innovative composers. BMOP/sound has garnered praise from the national and international press. It is the recipient of a 2020 Grammy Award for Tobias Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox as well as eight Grammy Award nominations, and its releases have appeared on the year-end “Best of” lists of The New York Times, The Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Time Out New York, American Record Guide, DownBeat, WBUR, NewMusicBox, and others. Admired, praised, and sought after by artists, presenters, critics, and audiophiles, BMOP and BMOP/sound are uniquely positioned to redefine the new music concert and recording experience. Launched in 2019, BMOP's digital radio station, BMOP/radio, streams BMOP/sound's entire catalog and airs special programming. BMOP.org

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