Steven Mercurio conducts April world premiere of
"Courageous Women Of Antiquity"
at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
Multi-media, semi-staged concert features two new works
by composer Georgia Shreve
with soloists:
soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer, tenor Richard Troxell,
bass Matthew Anchel, baritone Ben Edquist,
mezzo-soprano Sofia Selowsky, tenor Alexander McKissick,
mezzo-soprano Jacqueline Bolier, and soprano Larisa Martinez
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Painting: Barnaby Fitzgerald
Internationally renowned American conductor and Czech National Symphony Orchestra Music Director Steven Mercurio leads an acclaimed cast of singers (Matthew Anchel, Jacqueline Bolier, Ben Edquist, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Larisa Martinez, Alexander McKissick, Sofia Selowsky, Richard Troxell) and the Philharmonia of New York in a thrilling, semi-staged, multi-media world-premiere concert, “Courageous Women of Antiquity.” Featuring two new works by American composer Georgia Shreve, Lavinia and Anna Komnene, the concert is a tribute to strong women of yesteryear, Lavinia—who stood up against kings and threats of war to marry whom she chose, and Anna Komnene, whose life was a testimony to the power and value of education. For centuries historians maintained that she had attempted to murder her brother to obtain the throne; her innocence has recently been proven.
COURAGEOUS WOMEN OF ANTIQUITY
World premiere of two semi-staged multi-media works
by American composer Georgia Shreve
Lavinia and Anna Komnene
Tuesday, April 26, 2022 I 7:30 PM
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
1941 Broadway at W 65th St, New York, NY 10023
Philharmonia of New York
Steven Mercurio, conductor
Soloists:
Lavinia/Anna Komnene - Wendy Bryn Harmer
Aeneas/Bryennius - Richard Troxell
Latinus/John - Matthew Anchel
Virgil/Alexios - Ben Edquist
Amata/Anna Delucina - Sofia Selowsky
Turnus/Constantine - Alexander McKissick
Irene - Jacqueline Bolier
Maria - Larisa Martinez
Conductor - Steven Mercurio
TICKETS: $25, $35
Details on Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center's vaccination, boosters and face coverings policy may also be found on the above link.
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Top Row: Mercurio
Top Row: Harmer; Troxell; Anchel; Edquist;
Bottom Row: Selowsky; McKissick; Bolier; Martinez
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Steven Mercurio is an internationally acclaimed conductor and composer whose musical versatility encompasses the symphonic, operatic and crossover worlds. He is the Music Director of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra with whom he has enjoyed a rich relationship for over a decade. His notable appointments also include Music Director of the Spoleto Festival and Principal Conductor of the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He has conducted more than sixty different operas in seven different languages. In addition to his performances throughout the world, Mercurio has conducted numerous telecasts, including his own CNSO in a livestream of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. He is a frequent conductor for the RAI and PBS including the iconic
telecasts of Christmas in Vienna with The Three Tenors as well as Bocelli’s Statue of Liberty Concert. Mercurio was pivotal in mounting and performing the stage show for Sting’s Symphonicities and an Evening with Chick Corea. Mercurio’s compositions include songs, chamber work and pieces for large orchestra. Highlights include his symphony, A Grateful Tail, dedicated to dog lovers and his symphonic tone poem, For Lost Loved Ones, which was given its world premiere by Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. www.stevenmercurio.com
Soloists in order of Role(s)
A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, American soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer has appeared in numerous productions at the Metropolitan Opera and has also appeared in the Met’s HD broadcasts of the Ring Cycle and The Magic Flute, which have subsequently been released on DVD (Deutsche Gramophone).Other recent opera engagements have included the Utah Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Omaha, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Bard Music Festival, San Francisco Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Boston, and the Utah Festival Opera. Concert performances include Tanglewood Festival, Boston Baroque, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and in Lincoln Center’s Tribute to Renata Tebaldi. Harmer holds a Bachelor's degree from The Boston Conservatory, attended the Music of Academy of the West and was a member of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program. Her many awards include a 2010 Richard Tucker Grant, the 2007 Jensen Award, and the Teatro alla Scala Award. https://www.sempreartists.com/wendy-bryn-harmer
Richard Troxell's beautiful lyric tenor voice has been thrilling audiences in leading roles at opera houses and concert halls around the world, among them the Metropolitan Opera, the opera houses of Los Angeles, Washington, Cincinnati, Colorado, Sydney, Beijing, Montreal, Vancouver, Houston Grand, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Vancouver, Saratoga and Nashville, as well as Boston Lyric, Teatro Petruzelli, L’Opéra Comique, and Opera Australia. Troxell has made frequent guest appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and currently he is a regular guest artist on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Equally at home on the concert stage, Troxell has appeared with the
St. Louis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and at Carnegie Hall, to name a few. Other notable engagements include the world premiere of William Bolcom’s Dinner at Eight, the Metropolitan Opera in Ades’ Exterminating Angel, and his debut with Chicago Opera Theatre for the Chicago premiere of Elizabeth Cree. https://richardtroxell.tv/
Baritone Ben Edquist is a star on the rise. A contemporary opera juggernaut, he has created leading roles in several world premieres, including Mayo Buckman (Tom Cipullo’s newest opera Mayo),Manfred (Jake Heggie's Out of Darkness:Two Remain with Atlanta Opera), Sir Walter Raleigh (Gregory Spears’ opera O Columbia with Houston Grand Opera), Angel in Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life, Bernardo in West Side Story with Grand Teton Music Festival and, in his European debut, the role of Remo in David Sawyer’s The Skating Rink with Garsington Opera. Most notably, Mr. Edquist created the role of Edward Kynaston in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players with Houston Grand Opera. Additional opera houses with which he has appeared include Painted Sky Opera, Madison Opera, Opera Fayetteville, and Austin Opera. A prize winner in several competitions, he holds a Master of Music from Rice University and a Bachelor of Music from Vanderbilt University. www.uiatalent.com
Bass Matthew Anchel has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, St. Petersberg Opera, Opera Leipzig, LOFT Opera, Anchorage Opera, Opera San Jose, Opera San Jose, American Lyric Theater, Knoxville Opera, Opera San Antonio, Spoleto Festival USA, Caramoor Festival, Intermezzo Festival (Belgium), Savannah Voice Festival, Music Academy of the West, as well as at Carnegie Hall. He has sung with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. George’s Choral Society, the Annapolis Chorale, Allentown Symphony. A member of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program and Los Angeles Opera’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program, he is a recipient of many awards including 3rd Place in the Palm Beach Opera Competition, the Judges Award from Opera Index, and Encouragement Award from the George London Foundation, and Finalist and Encouragement Award in the Loren L. Zachary Competition. Anchel graduated from the famed LaGuardia Performing Arts High School, and later attended the Manhattan School of Music. www.matthewanchel.com
Maryland native Sofia Selowsky has performed with Houston Grand Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Atlanta Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Milwaukee Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Ars Lyrica Houston, Jacksonville Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, Da Camera of Houston, The Minnesota Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, and Houston Symphony Orchestra, as well as with Houston Ballet in a cameo appearance in the ballet Mayerling. A multi-year participant at the Aspen Music Festival, Selowsky was a member of the HGO Studio and performed as a Young Artist at the Glimmerglass Festival. Amongst her numerous honors, she is a grant recipient from the Gerda Lissner Foundation and a recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshanna Foundation. She was a National Semifinalist in the 2014 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and won Third Place in The Houston Grand Opera’s prestigious Eleanor McCollum Competition.
American tenor Alex McKissick has performed with respected organizations such as Wolf Trap, Washington National Opera, Opera Naples, at the Aspen Music Festival; with the Georg Solti Accademia in Venice, Italy; with the Richmond Symphony and Charleston Symphony Orchestra.A highly sought-after recitalist in the Washington, D.C., metro area, McKissick has appeared at the Renwick Gallery, Dumbarton Oaks, the Cosmos Club, the Metropolitan Club, the United States Supreme Court, and at number of private concerts at various embassies and residences of important officials. He has made two recordings – Bernstein’s Songfest (Naxos) and Una notte a Napoli, recorded live at Geneva, Switzerland’s Victoria Hall.Amongst McKissick honors and awards are a Sullivan Foundation Career Grant, a Sara Tucker Study Grant. He received his Bachelor’s of Music and Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School of Music. Mr. McKissick is an alumnus of the Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera.
https://muse-artists.com/main/alex-mckissick
Soprano Jacqueline Bolier has sung in venues and festivals across the country, including the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, New York City’s Merkin Hall, and with the Portland Symphony, New World Symphony and at the Lakes Area Music Festival. She was a featured soloist for the 40th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, appearing alongside Meryl Streep and Misty Copeland to honor Carmen de Lavallade. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she recorded new works by Georgia Shreve, including the title role of Lavinia. Additional recordings include Miss Julie (Albany Records). Bolier gives back to her community through the Turnaround Arts Institute, a program of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Past awards include prizes from the Licia Albanese Foundation, and the Art Song Preservation Society. She received additional training at the Music Academy of the West and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music.
Internationally acclaimed soprano Larisa Martínez is widely regarded as one her generations’ most exciting talents. Highly praised for her warm lyric coloratura voice and captivating stage presence. She has performed at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, with Grand Rapids Symphony, Wichita Grand Opera, and Festival Napa Valley, to name a few. For the last three years. she has toured with tenor Andrea Bocelli throughout North America, South America, and Europe. She was invited as part of President Barack Obama’s artistic delegation to Cuba, in an effort to expand cultural collaboration and friendships between the two countries, culminating in the Emmy®-nominated PBS special, “Live from Lincoln Center: Seasons of Cuba,” where she was showcased. Winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2016 National Council Audition in Puerto Rico, Martinez is a Silk Road Ensemble board member, and an artistic resident of the Presidential Committee on the Arts and the Humanities’s Turnaround Arts. www.larisamartinez.com
The Philharmonia of New York is made up of some of the top musicians in the tri-state region including musicians from New York City Opera, The New York City Ballet, and the New Jersey Symphony, as well as many members who frequently perform with the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic. The orchestra has performed with Andrea Bocelli for the past 10 years at venues such as Madison Square Garden and the Barclay Center, as well as in Boston and New Jersey. The Philharmonia of New York has also collaborated for performances at Alice Tully Hall and the Rose Theater with "Project Hand in Hand," a collaborative exchange with young choral students from Japan, including a meaningful tour to the region affected by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster to show support for those communities traumatized by the catastrophic events of that year.
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New York-based American composer Georgia Shreve is a respected contemporary artist. As a composer, Shreve's creative voice, passion for music, words and visual imagery, combined with her interest in poignant, timeless themes and exploring the nature of relationships, has resulted in a growing body of compelling, dynamic works for orchestra, voice and small ensemble. Her settings of her original texts and texts by renowned poets and writers have been presented and performed by the Manhattan Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, and singers and musicians who regularly perform on top orchestral, operatic, Off-Broadway and Broadway stages. Having had her music performed at Carnegie Hall's Weill and Zankel Halls, Cami Hall, Steinway Hall, and National Sawdust in New York City and at the UK's Royal Over-Seas League in London, Georgia Shreve's work makes its Lincoln Center debut with "Courageous Women of Antiquity." A versatile, triple threat, Shreve's interests are not only in music, but also span the written word and film. Several of
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her plays and musicals have been performed at New York's Daryl Roth 2, Heckscher Theater, and Theatre Row. Her Rock opera, Love Sick, and her musical, Dialogues of the Travelers, both debuted at National Sawdust to sold out runs. Shreve'stalent has been acknowledged publicly: The New York Times praised her setting of TS Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock as "expansive, psychologically pointed"; her Piano Quartet won First Prize in the Contemporary Recording Society's Competition; her short story, "The Countess of M-" won the Stanford Magazine Fiction Award; and her poetry and writing has been published in magazines including Poetry, New Yorker, New Republic, and New Criterion. Her screenplay "Homes" was a top ten finalist in Creative Screenwriting's AAA Screenplay Contest, a Quarter Finalist in the Writer's Network Screenplay Competition, American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest, and Fade In Magazine Screenplay Competition, and "Western Waters" was a Quarter Finalist in the Writer's Network Screenplay Competition. Shreve also earned degrees from Stanford, Brown, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania in Creative Writing, Literature, Psychology and Philosophy.
Click here for artist bios and images.
Press Contact:
Laura Grant, Grant Communications
1.917.359.7319
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