Announcing Auditions: Fall 2015 Production

for GOYESCAS BY ENRIQUE GRANADOS

Casting for all roles:
Rosario, soprano
Fernando, tenor
Pepa, mezzo-soprano
Paquiro, baritone
 

Production period will be mid-October to mid-November.

To request an audition: Please submit resume/CV, headshot and one recording (audio or video, links are accepted) to hello@bareopera.org with subject line: Audition. ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MONDAY MAY 25 AT 1:00 PM.

For the audition: Please bring 5 contrasting arias in at least 2 different languages. One aria in Spanish recommended, but not required.

Auditions will be held Tuesday May 26, 2015 7pm-10pm at Opera America (330 7th Ave, New York, NY).

Pianist is provided. You may bring your own, please let us know in advance if you are bringing your own.

Though we are a small company, we respect all our performers and musicians with payment.

Bare Opera feature in PC Gamer Magazine

Originally published on PC Gamer by Gregory Moomjy.

From the outside, there’s nothing special about New York City’s Robert Miller Gallery. It looks like the rest of the galleries in Chelsea that you might expect to find under the High Line—a former railroad track turned park. Yet inside, these bright white walls witnessed an unexpected birth. Who would think that the cultural elites of the opera world would mingle with the cult of Minecraft to produce a show? On May 2, it happened—an opera played out in front of Minecraft projections.

The mastermind of this novel coupling is a new company, Bare Opera, which made its debut with Maurice Ravels’ L'enfant et les Sortilèges (The Child & The Enchantments), the operatic equivalent of Where The Wild Things Are and the Toy Story movies. The production’s set designer, artist Alexandra Posen and director Anthony Laciura, the opera singer\butler of Boardwalk Empire fame, thought Minecraft was an ideal vehicle with which to show the story in a modern light.

In interviews on Bare Opera’s website, Posen has said that she was drawn to Minecraft for its ability to reflect a child’s darker side in a modern way. “The Lego-like land of Minecraft is a digital gaming space in which children escape to create, imagine and build,” said Posen, “but also to destroy, crash, explode and tear down.”

The Child & the Enchantments tells the story of a child who throws a tantrum and wrecks everything inside his house when his mother forces him to sit and do his homework. The broken objects—chairs, grandfather clocks, storybooks, and even his math homework—come to life and take revenge. They chase the child outside where things don’t get any better, as he is now in the grip of the backyard animals that he has abused for years. It is only when the boy bandages a wounded squirrel that the objects realize that the child has some good in him. It’s an opera about a fantastical world in which children both create and destroy.

In order to create this production, Posen collaborated with Voxelbox and the artist Kupo. Posen said, “Kupo expressed her passion for this project beautifully when she told me about Voxelbox: ‘Our goal is to create worlds where you feel as if they're alive and living in their own right. Making worlds where there are tiny details that you might not even notice until your 3rd or 4th time seeing the project is what helps make something really come to life. Being able to hear people notice all the small things that go into our work is what makes it rewarding after spending days just fine combing details.’”

The Minecraft projections used in the production are equally beautiful and ominous, with pastoral scenes contrasting with lava and fire. When the child falls off a chair after his tantrum, his Minecraft avatar goes from normal size to miniature, illustrating that he’s at the mercy of his surroundings.

The run, which lasted from May 2nd to the 4th, completely sold out. This was a double bill where The Child & The Enchantments came second after Debussy's L'enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son). Intermission featured a special snack consisting of sour worms, gummi bears, goldfish, and orange soda—all items that according to Min Lew, Bare Opera’s general director, “were meant to remind the audience of childhood” before seeing the opera.

The audience on opening night was a refreshing mix of all ages, and everyone seemed to enjoy the blend of Minecraft and opera. “I am excited by the way that the project reaches into several unchartered territories," said Posen. "It both stretches Opera audiences to reevaluate the way that visual language can dialogue with music and stage, and it challenges the gaming community to welcome an unprecedented kind of storytelling and poetic beauty. Artistically, for me, it has opened my mind to future of art in an increasingly gamified and digital world.”

"An engrossing and refreshingly minimal take on this wild fairy tale" -Superconductor

Originally posted on Superconductor by Paul Pelkonen.

It is quite something to be attendant at the birth of an opera company. On Monday night, in the airy Robert Miller Gallery on the extreme west of 26th St. in Chelsea, the Bare Opera mounted the third and final performance of its inaugural production: an ambitious double bill of Debussy's L'Enfant Prodigue and Ravel'sL'Enfant et les Sortileges. This young company is one of many determined to present an alternative to the large corporate-backed opera house, enriching and enlivening the New York opera scene and providing much-needed opportunity for young singers.

These two works couldn't be more different. Debussy wrote this Biblical cantata as a graduation exercise and submitted it to win the Prix de Rome in 1884. (He won, by the way.) Ravel's L'Enfant is the second and last of his operas. With a libretto by the celebrated poet Colette, this is a whimsical fable about a misbehaving pre-teen who gets their comeuppance at the hands of singing animals (there is a duet for two mewling cats), angry, broken furniture and a vengeful grandfather clock.

A strong trio of young singers sang the Debussy, a work that shows the composer laboring under the post-Wagnerian influence of Chausson in an effort to secure his professional future. This is a far cry from Pelléas et Melisande: it is straight-up music drama over a surging orchestra. Hints of Wagner's more pious moments abound, particularly noticeable in the descending figured bass and massed trio at the end.

The opening scenes were dominated by Liana Guberman as Lia, upset at the disappearance of her fully grown son. Ms. Guberman's pliant, dark-toned instrument lifted smoothly over the reduced and carefully balanced orchestration. Baritone Dongkyu Oh was a sonorous presence as Simeon, the father. Finally as the Son himself, the tenor Sungwook Kim was an impressive presence vocally and a committed actor as he huddled in recovery from his ordeals at the cantata's climactic moment.

As the Child in Ravel's opera, Véronique Rapin embodied this complex part perfectly, with sulky shoulders and a pouting demeanor that belied the power and strength of her silky mezzo. With the large cast switching rapidly between roles, this became an engrossing and refreshingly minimal take on this wild fairy tale. Standouts in the ensemble included Mr. Kim as the martial-arts fighting teapot, soprano Larisa Martínez in the role of Fire, Francisco Corredor as the manic embodiment of a math textbook, and soprano Kristina Bachrach as the Princess and a singing armchair.

Both operas were performed under a projection screen with the actors moving in front of the audience in the wide end of the bottle-shaped main gallery space. The orchestra, eleven players strong, were under the baton of conductor Sesto Quatrini. They were off to stage right. The sound projected smoothly down the hallway. The audience, packed into narrow ranks might have had trouble seeing the stage action, but the bright acoustic and power of this young cast brought the message of the music across.

The production, conceived by director Anthony Laciura, incorporated multi-media images by art director Alexandra Posen. Swirls of colored paints and oil accompanied the Debussy, suggesting the blowing deserts of the Middle East and the family crisis of the prodigal son's return. For the Ravel, all the visuals were drawn directly from an unexpected source. A tiny animated figure and brick-by-brick castles, forests and cats were drawn from the popular videogame MineCraft. This was the perfect, quirky accompaniment to Ravel's Lilliputian opera.

"the orchestral sound clear and resounding, the voices brilliant" -Parterre Box

Originally published on Parterre Box by John Yohalem.

On Saturday, a new company called Bare Opera gave its first performance, a double bill of Debussy’s L’Enfant Prodigue and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, at the Robert Miller Gallery in Chelsea. One of the company’s directors made noises along the lines of New York needing a different sort of opera, in small, less formal spaces, with young performers and an intimate theatricality.

These are principles I heartily approve, but since my recent operatic experience has included a thrilling Orlando in an art gallery in the Bowery and a wonderfully theatrical Lucrezia Borgia in Bushwick, the local opera scene Bare Opera enters is not, perhaps, such a desert. It’s getting hard to see the mirage for all the oases.

That said, Bare Opera’s initial program is very promising: intriguing scores (one unusual, one familiar), sturdy young singers, an appeal to technological innovation not involving that Devil’s Instrument the microphone, and a very tight little orchestra superbly led by Sesto Quatrini.

My chief cavil with the event was its locale. The Robert Miller Gallery consists of a long, broad hallway leading to a large rectangular room. The orchestra was set up on one side of the rectangle, the playing area occupied the room’s center with a large video screen above it, while the audience was seated down the nave-like hall.

The acoustic was remarkable, the orchestral sound clear and resounding, the voices brilliant, as if in a Gothic church—individual voices rang nicely. But visibility was terrible beyond the first few rows. I felt especially sorry for young children brought to the Ravel and barely able to see the intimate action. This is a fine setting for music but not a good one for theater, and that, a theater suitable for chamber-size opera, is what New York does not have and really needs for the many talented and innovative companies who already exist and the new ones sprouting all over town.

The producers may have hoped to compensate with video projections, and a great deal of effort has been devoted to these, designed by video artist Alexandra Posen. For L’Enfant Prodigue, the screen depicted abstract swirls of colorful paint set to the surges and ebbs of Debussy’s late romantic score, a style that reminded me of Grateful Dead light shows at the Fillmore when I was a tot. The Dead decided such things were a distraction from their music, and in the case of Bare Opera, too, the art rather distracted from than enhanced the performances of the three singers. I’d have said: Raise the stage area somehow and eliminate the screen.

Debussy wrote L’Enfant Prodigue when he was 22, an entry for the Prix de Rome—the text (by Ernest Guiraud, who composed the recitatives for Carmen) was given to a dozen students. Debussy won handily. It is not difficult to see why: This is a full-bodied, passionate conclusion to the Biblical anecdote, with, if anything, more intense feeling, expressed in melody, than the drama justifies. Debussy later said, in some disgust, that there was nothing in his cantata that Massenet could not have written—I did find myself humming “Fuyez, douce image”—and the piece has been largely forgotten, except for Leontyne Price’s magical recording of the “Air de Lia” with which it opens. If it is not what we think of as mature Debussy, and the action static, it is a lovely miniature and shows three strong voices to advantage.

Liana Guberman has a smaller, tidier soprano than Miss Price, but it’s a beauty, capable of the proper yearning quality, and expands sweetly to fill a room. She was well matched by the strong baritone of Dongkyu Oh, as Simeon. TenorSungwook Kim

The stage director was Met veteran tenor Anthony Laciura, who kept it simple. His hard work lay after intermission, with the gimmicky nightmare plot of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, and here, alas, the sight lines challenged the best efforts of his eager cast.

Mezzo Véronique Rapin sang the naughty child with the proper arrogance and agreeable tone. Some productions keep the singers out of sight and have the furnishings that come to life and gloat on the child’s peril played by dancers. Lacking the budget to do such effects with panache, Bare Opera had them mimed by the singers, and their sometimes acrobatic performances did not interfere with good, direct singing. Shown (and heard) to particular advantage were Larisa Martínez as Fire, Kristina Bachrach as the Princess whose storybook the child has demolished, Briana Hunter’s squirrel and the leaping Francisco Corredor as a Frog.

Maestro Quatrini’s orchestra, sounding far larger than twelve instruments suggest, made a lively thing of Ravel’s gently jagged score, and the singers were winsome and expert, but much of the effect was diluted by the awkward playing space.

To make up for this, video director Posen, aided by Minecraft’s designer, Kupo, created a cartoon accompaniment to the opera for the lofty screen visible to all. The animation was tremendously inventive but also distracting, rather in the way a music video distracts attention from music-making. It seemed to depict a Super-Mario child running about a vast, constantly moving Lego mansion, escaping to an ever-rising castle and a limitless garden, and proved less magical than many a more earthbound staging.

It was MTV opera: Something new had to be happening at each new bar of music. This is not the ideal way to experience the elegance of operatic music-making. Bare Opera secured an excellent bunch of musicians; one would have liked to pay them more of one’s attention.

Bare Opera’s next project will be Enrique Granados’ Goyescas, a worthy choice of rarity for an intriguing new company.

"Bare Opera made a delicious debut..." -Voce di Meche

Originally published on Voce di Meche by Meche Kroop. 

A new chamber opera company on Planet Opera is always a cause for celebration. Bare Opera made a delicious debut last night with two tempting French bonbons. Although the name is Bare, we consider the fledgling company to be very well-furnished with talent and imagination to spare.

They call themselves an "alternative" opera company and have a mission to provide a more modern take on the opera-going experience. They embrace a collaborative spirit with innovative cross-arts productions, creating a casual and intimate experience in unconventional spaces-- in this case the Robert Miller Gallery.

For their debut, they wisely chose two infrequently seen works by French composers, sung in French, with good surtitles that were easily visible. The evening opened with Debussy's cantata L'Enfant Prodigue, a work which won the composer the Grand Prix de Rome in 1884 as he concluded his studies at the Paris Conservatoire. The text by Ernest Guiraud had been assigned, a simple story of a mother Lia who laments the absence of her son Azaël. His return to the family provides for a joyous reconciliation with her and the father Simeon.

Liana Guberman was convincing and ultimately moving as the mother, expressing emotions of grief and joy with wonderful colors in her beautiful soprano. We have heard her sing several times and are impressed with her artistic growth.

Tenor Sungwook Kim and baritone Dongkyu Oh, as son and father respectively, contributed their excellent voices to the creation of this happily restored family.

Conductor Sesto Quatrini accomplished the reduction of the score and guided his chamber orchestra through the beautiful music which presaged the composer's later impressionism. The orchestra comprised a string quartet augmented by bass, percussion, piano and winds--flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn. The textures were lovely and the execution marked by clarity.

As far as the visual elements, there were some really beautiful images swirling on the screen projected above the singers. Fortunately they did not distract; but as to whether they contributed to our appreciation of the emotional landscape of the text and music, we cannot say. The abstract video created by Art Director Alexandra Posen of molten wax reminded us of nothing more than the light shows of the late 1960's. Not a bad thing!

For the second half of the program, Maurice Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, Ms. Posen created a trippy landscape looking for all the world like a video game constructed of Lego blocks. For this, Ms. Posen collaborated with Voxelbox and Minecraft artist Kupo. In this case, the projection served to establish the world of the child, a very naughty boy.

We recently enjoyed a performance of this delightful 1925 opera given by Utopia Opera, another chamber opera company.  It was amazing to enjoy it from another perspective with different performers and different direction (Anthony Laciura). The work began life as a ballet commissioned by the Paris Opera but became an opera with ballet sequences choreographed by none other than George Balanchine. The novelist Colette wrote the libretto. Ravel's score is eclectic with influences from jazz and popular music of that epoch.

It tells the story of a rebellious schoolboy who destroys his books, abuses the furniture and tortures animals. These objects come alive and teach the boy a lesson--meanness leads to loneliness and abandonment. In the happy ending, the boy bandages an animal's wounds and earns the praise of the other creatures.

Swiss mezzo-soprano Véronique Rapin made a very believable little boy, dressed in a sailor suit, throwing herself into the role with expressive gesture and voice. We were highly impressed by Francisco Corredor's performance as a googly-eyed frog and as the boy's neglected arithmetic lesson. We have enjoyed this character tenor's performance on more than one occasion.  There is never a false note, not vocally, not dramatically. He also did the choreography which worked splendidly.

Another singer we enjoyed was Larisa Martínez in her role as Fire that can warm but also destroy. We did not see any credits for costuming in the program but hers was red and floaty and quite special. Similarly her Nightingale was a standout.

Ms. Guberman reappeared as a Shepherdess and a Bat, both excellently portrayed; Mr. Kim lent his tenor to the role of Teapot with Inbar Goldmann as his Teacup. Mr. Oh did a fine stand as the Grandfather Clock and again as a Cat with Briana Hunter as his mate in a fine meowing duet. What fun to see singers stretch themselves and reappear in completely different guise.

Kristina Bachrach portrayed a Princess whose life was left in limbo when the bad boy tore up his picture book. (During this scene we appreciated the projected artwork of a Disney-style castle.) She doubled as an Armchair with the Sofa played by Enrico Lagasca who doubled as the Tree which was bleeding sap from a knife attack by the naughty boy.

As the mother Sarah Miller left us with memories of a mincing walk that went far in defining character. We recalled her fine performance with New York Opera Exchange in Roméo et Juliette.

Not only did all of the above mentioned singers make significant vocal contributions but the chorus did as well. Who coached them? Mr. Corredor of course.

Laetitia Ruccolo, Artistic Director of Bare Opera and pianist, was responsible for the very readable translation with titles done by Elizabete Sirante.

All told, we witnessed a highly talented group of young artists collaborate to put on a production that delighted a very packed house. We foresee a fine future for this group and are eagerly awaiting an announcement of dates for their next production--Goyescas by Enrique Granados.

This is exactly what a boutique opera company should be doing--bringing neglected works to an audience hungry for surprises. There is certainly room in New York for  small companies presenting the classics so that young artists can get experience with roles for which they may later be hired. But Bare Opera seems to have found their own niche. We heartily approve!

There will be two more performances.  Take heed!

(c) meche kroop

ART DIRECTOR ALEXANDRA POSEN DISCUSSES CONCEPTUALIZING L’ENFANT ET LES SORTILÈGES THROUGH MINECRAFT

Recently, Art Director Alex Posen sat down with Angela Marroy Boerger, Managing Editor of Bare Opera, to discuss her work with the company and her art design for our début production of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges.

As an artist, you have been influenced by mask work, puppetry and physical theater and have made works with interesting mediums such as beeswax, chiffon, alabaster, video and performance. You’ve already had a varied career, from your work as co-founder/Creative Director of the fashion label Zac Posen, to your independent exhibitions in galleries. What attracted you to Bare Opera and our production of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges?

First of all, I am a fan (or rather a practioner) of cross-genre creation, not to mention a surrealist at heart.  Bare Opera’s passionate mission for reinvention and artistic adventurousness is up my alley.  I love that Bare Opera is reaching out to new audiences and re-contextualizing the opera experience to be something more intimate, immediate and fresh.  I also fell in love with this crazy/poetic collaboration between Ravel and Collette- the music's dreamlike quality and Collette's odd but whimsical poem.

Would you mind giving us a view into your artistic concept for the work?

Bare Opera asked me to devise a motion graphic set for the production.  I started reflecting on this opera and on the child’s experience at its center: his sense of entrapment, frustration and his need to express destruction, as well as his dreamy departure into the landscape of fantasy and the subconscious mind.  The parallel that came to mind was the world and cult phenomenon of Minecraft.  Minecraft is an epically popular digital sandbox game that enables the open ended creation of virtual worlds using cubic building blocks. Think digital legos in an infinite and magical playground.  You are at once master of your universe and also a visitor to your own imagination. It seemed like a perfect analogy to the landscape of child's  inner world (it's also fittingly a common culprit in homework procrastination).

So after you had this concept, what came next?

Minecraft also spawns an insane amount of videos and YouTube animations, so I knew that there could be boundless opportunity for creative storytelling.  However.... I quickly realized that my small clan of minecraftians (my kids) and I were not up to the task at hand, so I began researching the arena of Minecraft experts and artists.  I was so lucky to find the best of the best-  Voxelbox and Kupo make extraordinary content in Minecraft.  They are doing beautiful things unlike anyone else.  Currently a global team of builders with Voxelbox are working night and day to complete the Minecraft Build.  It is a blast working with these guys. They are phenomenally talented, and I believe that what they are creating is going to be spectacular and mind blowing.

Why do you find Minecraft to be such an apt medium for opera?

As the mind travels when listening to music, so minecraft allows the eyes to travel.  We are discovering that they work beautifully together. The core atmosphere and ether of the Minecraft world has a dream like quality.  Kupo's fantastic camera work is able to dance with the essence of the music.   Unlike sets and costumes in the theater, anything you dream up can be built in Minecraft- fantastical menageries,  architectural reveries, poetic sunsets, unending spirals down into caves and up into skys full of clouds and rain.  Perfectly wondrous for the world of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges!

It sounds like the perfect medium to explore the child’s rich interior world in the opera. Which parts of his character are you hoping to bring out?

I’m definitely interested in the darkness of his character, but in a way there is an optimism there too, because the opera is at peace with who he is, it accepts him on his own terms. Kids are dark – they really are. It’s not just because of the serious things they’re exposed to on TV and in the surrounding culture; it’s a part of human nature. L’Enfant is an opera where you’re invited to spend time with this not-such-a-good kid, which is deep, in a way. We don’t have many opportunities to sit comfortably with that.

It’s certainly not something that is frequently represented in opera.  Do you think that this will invite new audiences to opera?

Absolutely!! It is the most direct way I can think of to open young minds up and get them amped about opera.  I love the intersection of very different creative communities that would not ordinarily be sitting in the same theater.  I am also personally captivated by the idea that there can be beautiful and life affirming applications of new technologies, this opera I hope will be one!

L’Enfant et les Sortilèges will run May 2-4 at the Robert Miller Gallery.

Learn more about Alexandra Posen:  www.alexandraposen.com

Learn more about the Minecraft team: http://thevoxelbox.com/

Bare Opera Welcomes A New L'Enfant: Véronique Rapin

Bare Opera is thrilled to introduce our newest cast member, Véronique Rapin, who joins the company in the title role of L’Enfant in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Véronique notes, “L'Enfant is a masterpiece because it is both incredibly complex musically and dramatically, and yet still accessible. It is one of those rare operas that can be loved by people of all ages.” She is taking over the role of L’Enfant from the departing Kirsten Scott, who has recently been appointed to Florida Grand Opera’s prestigious Young Artist program. One of the co-founders of Bare Opera, Kirsten will continue to work with the company in an advisory capacity, although her responsibilities with FGO, including her upcoming performance as Vera Boronel in FGO’s premiere of The Consul by Gian Carlo Menotti, will take her away from our stage. We wish her a hearty “break a leg” in her new role at FGO!

Véronique joins Bare Opera as an active performer in New York and abroad, where she has performed with the Ouverture-Opéra Sion, the Siena Music Festival, and the Haute école de Musique de Lausanne. In 2014, she joined the Académie Européenne de Musique du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as a Young Artist, and she has recently been appointed as Apprentice Artist at the Caramoor Center. A native of Switzerland, Véronique originally trained as an actress. She began her musical studies at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne in Switzerland, where she earned her bachelor's degree. She completed her Master of Music degree at Mannes College.

Véronique is committed to introducing new audiences to opera, and she is a founding member of Opera d’Asporto, a Geneva-based, emerging opera company dedicated to bringing the art form to new audiences through innovative and highly theatrical productions. This experience will inform her work with Bare Opera, as she joins us in our début production of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. She remarks, “It is thrilling to be a part of a young and innovative company. I love the idea of bringing out the theatrical aspect of opera and sharing it with audiences outside the traditional realm of the genre.” We welcome Véronique and look forward to introducing you to her in our title role.

Artist Alexandra Posen Joins Bare Opera as art director

Bare Opera welcomes the internationally-respected artist Alexandra Posen as Art Director for our début production of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Alex as our Art Director,” according to Bare Opera General Director Min Lew. “One of the challenges of partnering with visual artists is that they sometimes don’t understand the intricacies of theater. We’re really lucky that Alex is not only an incredible artist, but also has a lot of experience in and an in-depth knowledge of theater."

Alex’s work has been exhibited at Performance Space 122, Lynch Tham Gallery, NYCAMS/Site 95, Temp Space, Gertrude Salon, The Watermill Center, The Curator Gallery, and Kipton Chronkite’s @60”, and was recently included in Robert Miller’s Young Collector Studio Tour. She is a co-founder of the fashion label Zac Posen, where she was Creative Director from 2001 to 2010. A native of New York, Alexandra is a graduate of Brown University and the École International de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq.

Alex notes, “My work articulates a deep fascination with animism, spirit, and the poetry of presence. Using mediums such as beeswax, chiffon, alabaster, video and performance, I explore the corporeality and living nature of material objects, and their potential for transformation.” Bare Opera is thrilled to have Alex join our team, and we are thrilled to share her distinctive and extraordinary approach to L’Enfant et les Sortilèges with you.

Bare Opera Indiegogo Fundraising Campaign in Full Swing

Bare Opera launched 2015 with a bang, marked by the release of our 2015 Indiegogo campaign. With a fundraising goal of $5,000 to cover an array of costs from artist fees to chair rentals, we hope our Indiegogo Campaign will help make our 2015 productions of L’Enfant et Les Sortilèges and L'Enfant Prodigue wildly successful!

Check out our Indiegogo video below or visit our Indiegogo campaign page to donate and learn more!

Sesto Quatrini to conduct first season at bare opera

Bare Opera would like to make a BIG BARE OPERA SHOUT OUT to Sesto Quatrini, conductor-composer-extraordinaire, who will be conducting our Spring 2015 productions. We couldn’t be more excited to have him on board. Welcome, Maestro Quatrini!

Born in Rome in 1984, Sesto Quatrini has an extensive and impressive range of experience for such a young composer and conductor. Already he has set himself apart with his compositions, commitment to furthering classical and contemporary music and breadth of talent.  

His music has been described having “a slightly naïve theatricality and a marked expressive descriptivism that could place him among important composers of the first part of the 20th century.” (F. Luzetti, RCF). Several of his works have achieved impressive recognition and exposure in the classical community: Concerto per violino e orchestra op.24 (Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome), his opera Il Filosofo op.47 (Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome), Ludus in nomine Johannis Sebastiani op.40 (Piccola Orchestra ‘900), Trio (Auditorium Goethe Institut of Rome), Tristes erant apostoli... op.1 (I Solisti Aquilani), Sinfonietta op.21 (Orchestra “Città Aperta”), Controcanto op.35 (featured on the official CD along with chamber music of Elliott Carter), Sonata per pf a 4 mani (Cantiere musica), Three music suggestions (Verona, Trento, Riva del Garda, Brescia), and Miniature Concertanti op.57 (Auditorium E. Morricone, Rome).

In addition to his extensive composition portfolio, he is also an accomplished conductor. Under his baton, he has lead the Orchestra dei “Pomeriggi Musicali” of Milan, Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, Orchestra Città Aperta, Orchestra G.VERDI of Milan, Camerata barocca "C. Monteverdi", Ensemble Sinfonica di fiati del Conservatorio of L’Aquila, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, ARTeM Orchestra, Gwinnett Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Tempi Moderni,Les Voix Concertantes. Maestro Quatrini was chief conductor of the orchestra “Piccola Orchestra Bramante” in Rome from 2009 to 2011.

In September 2014 Maestro Quatrini debuted La Traviata at the Theatre Athenée in Paris. In 2013, he was selected to work with Maestro Fabio Luisi of the Metropolitan Opera at an Opera Workshop in Praslin, France. There, he directed "Cosí fan tutte" and "Don Giovanni”. That same year he won the “ICWC- International Conducting Workshop and Competition” in Georgia (U.S.A.), the 3rd prize in the "Solon Michaelides" International Competition for Young Conductors in Nicosia (Cyprus) - debuting with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra where he will return next season - and was also awarded the Petrolini Prize, recognizing achievements in the arts.

Maestro Quatrini is principal conductor of the Filarmonica Centro d’Italia and of the Orchestre Les Voix Concertantes de Paris. He will be joining New York City's newest opera company, Bare Opera, to conduct Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilèges and Debussy’s L’enfant prodigue.

Anthony Laciura to direct L'enfant et les sortilèges and L'enfant prodigue

Bare Opera is thrilled to welcome world-renowned tenor and actor, Anthony Laciura, to the Bare Opera family for the 2015 season. Mr. Laciura will direct Bare Opera's May 2015 productions of Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and Enchantments) and Debussy's L'enfant prodigue (The Prodigal Son).

Anthony Laciura is known internationally for his work as an operatic tenor, and more recently as ‘Eddie Kessler’ on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Mr. Laciura has performed in over 800 performances with Metropolitan Opera Company and recently wrapped up his fourth season on the acclaimed series ‘Boardwalk Empire.’

During Anthony’s time as a comprimario at the Met, the Washington Post labeled him, “The Clown Prince of Opera…one of the outstanding character-tenors of our time.” The New York Times’ leading music critic simply stated that he is “a master of such roles,” and Terrence McNally announced during a radio broadcast that, “the amazing Anthony Laciura can convince an audience that he is just about anyone and sometimes steals the show.” Even more recently, Entertainment Weekly has named Mr. Laciura in the top 25 Comic Relief in TV Dramas All-Stars, for his portrayal of ‘Eddie’.

In addition to his singing career and acting, Anthony also directs Opera. He has directed productions of Verdi’s ‘Otello’ with the Vero Beach Opera, Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas,’ Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’, ‘Tosca’, ‘Madama Butterfly’ for Phoenix Opera, Verdi’s Rigoletto for Dicapo Opera in New York, and Puccini’s ‘La fanciulla del West’ at Knoxville Opera.

Mr. Laciura’s talent as a unique character actor has taken him to the big screen, television, and on various stages throughout the world. He has co-starred in the Academy qualifying, multi-award winning independent short film Crackers, as ‘Frank the Barber’, directed by Gregory Principato and in the short Mateo’s Room as Mr. Thomas, by Maximilian Williamson.

Anthony is the recipient of two SAG Actor awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for his role on Boardwalk Empire. Besides his various roles on stage at the Met, his off-Broadway stage credits include Uncle Bob in The House of Connelly by Paul Green, and as Irwin in Honor Bound by Al Repicci.

Kirsten Scott is the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Winner

Congratulations to Kirsten Scott, who will be singing the title role in Bare Opera's opening production of L'enfant et les sortilèges in May 2015. Kirsten is one of the eleven Eastern District Winners for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and will be moving on to the Region Finals on January 14, 2015 in NYC.

For more information, visit http://www.nycmonc.org/news/2014/11/19/district-auditions-2014-winners