THE AMERICAN OPERA PROJECT HONORS INTERNATIONAL TRANSGENDER DAY OF VISIBILITY WITH "AS ONE: THE WORK CONTINUES…”
Including the premiere performance of a newly commissioned choral work, “A Brighter Light,”
performed by over 35 singers from As One productions across the world
March 10, 2022
Brooklyn, NY - The American Opera Project (AOP) will honor International Transgender Day of Visibility with "AS ONE: THE WORK CONTINUES…” at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City. The one-hour live and livestreamed event, taking place on March 31, 2022 at 7 pm ET, will be moderated by baritone, model, and creative director Rahzé Cheatham who recently performed in the landmark 49th production of As One, featuring an all transgender cast. The event features a panel including documentary filmmaker and As One librettist Kimberly Reed (Prodigal Sons), as well as As One singer, baritone Lucas Bouk. The panel will reflect on transgender and nonbinary visibility in the arts and society since the premiere of As One in 2014, and what the near future holds.
The evening will also celebrate the launch of the True Voice Award, a new initiative created by Kimberly Reed, Laura Kaminsky, and Mark Campbell, and overseen by Washington National Opera to help create opportunities and support training for transgender opera singers. Washington National Opera's Artistic Director Francesca Zambello will announce the award. The event will culminate with the premiere of the newly commissioned choral work “A Brighter Light,” marking the recent 50th production of As One at Opera Santa Barbara. The choral work, written specifically for the event by the creators of As One, will premiere as a video featuring over 35 singers who have embodied the role of Hannah in productions of As One across the world.
Premiered by AOP at Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2014, As One is a chamber opera in which two voices—Hannah after (mezzo-soprano) and Hannah before (baritone)—share the part of a sole transgender protagonist. Fifteen songs comprise the three-part narrative; with empathy and humor, they trace Hannah’s experiences from her youth in a small town to her college years—and finally traveling alone to a different country, where she realizes some truths about herself.
The event will be livestreamed for free and in-person tickets are available for a $10 suggested donation. Tickets can be reserved by visiting https://www.gaycenter.org/aop.
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“As One forces you to think, simultaneously challenging preconceptions and inspiring empathy.”
“A piece that haunts and challenges its audience with questions about identity, authenticity, compassion and the human desire for self-love and peace.”
—Opera News
"As One makes the character’s coming to terms with her identity a poignant coming-of-age story just about every audience member can relate to. Its universality is key to As One’s becoming the hottest new American opera of recent years. It challenges us to ponder questions of authenticity, identity, compassion and self-love. And it does so without preachiness."
—The Chicago Tribune
"As One is the hottest title in opera right now, at least among the titles written in the last 100 years. The musical tale of a transgender woman’s personal evolution is somehow right on time—an accomplished bit of art-making, with considerable entertainment value, that thrusts itself smack into the current political and social discourse."
—The Denver Post
"The real secret of the opera’s success... is that under everything lays a winning coming-of-age story. ... In fact, As One is not so much an opera of ripped-out-of-the-headlines relevance than a traditional, if unconventional, love story. ... In the end, As One boils down to the easily relatable condition of a person learning to love one’s self. ... By moving beyond the daily news, “As One” approaches admirable universality."
—The Los Angeles Times
"…A transgender story with power, passion... “As One” has a power all its own. It is the power of intimate revelation... touch(es) the audience — with the emotional impact of an affecting story about a child born into the wrong body. ... beautiful lyrical moments... as uplifting as any operatic ending could be."
—Seattle Times
"‘As One serves as effective monodrama, subversive duet … a thoughtful and substantial piece as well as that rarest of operatic commodities — a story that lends itself to dramatization in music. … an insightful text that avoids the pitfall, all too easy with this material, of becoming sanctimonious. … effective, direct music … "
—The Washington Post
"There are few operas — new or old — that make me want to immediately return for seconds.
As One did."
– San Francisco Classical Voice
As One was commissioned and developed by The American Opera Project in part with funds from OPERA America's Opera Discovery Grants for Female Composers Program, supported by the
Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts
with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature,
and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works.
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ABOUT THE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CENTER |
Established in 1983 as a result of the AIDS crisis, New York City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center has grown and evolved over the last four decades, creating and delivering services that empower people to lead healthy, successful lives. We currently operate in-person and virtually, providing recovery and wellness programs, economic advancement initiatives, family and youth support, advocacy, arts and cultural events, and space for community organizing and connection.
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Librettist and filmmaker Kimberly Reed was commissioned by a consortium of opera companies led by Santa Fe Opera to write Hometown to the World, along with composer Laura Kaminsky. With Mark Campbell she co-wrote the libretti for Today It Rains (Opera Parallèle, 2019), Some Light Emerges (Houston Grand Opera, 2017), and As One (the American Opera Project, 2014), which is the most frequently produced new opera in North America, according to Opera America magazine. Her film projections have been called “worthy of Fellini or Bergman” (SF Classical Voice). Ms. Reed’ s song cycle Fierce Grace: Jeannette Rankin premiered at the U.S. Library of Congress in 2017. Her nonfiction writing was published in “The Moth,” a New York Times best-seller. Kim’s documentary film Prodigal Sons won 14 awards and was released in theaters and broadcast worldwide, and her Sundance award-winning 2018 documentary Dark Money was promptly named by Vogue magazine as one of the 66 Best Documentaries of All Time and shortlisted for the Academy Awards. She is a fellow of Yaddo and New York Foundation for the Arts.
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In 2021 Lucas Bouk made his baritone debut with On Site Opera, and joined the ensemble of New Amsterdam Opera’s I Vespri Siciliani and Opera Theater of CT’s Barber of Seville. This April he sings Masetto in Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy’s Don Giovanni and in May creates new roles with the NYU/Tisch Opera Lab and AOP. Prior to the pandemic, Lucas used his “silky mezzo” (New York Times) to perform roles ranging from Lucretia to Carmen to Komponist to Cherubino. In the 2019 season he made his Lincoln Center debut with New York City Opera as Sarah in the World Premiere of Stonewall and performed Hannah-after in As One with Alamo City Opera and again at Alchemical Studios in NYC. During the COVID pandemic Lucas decided to begin his physical and vocal transition with testosterone and has been retraining with Katherine Ciesinski and Michael Chioldi.
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Baritone Rahzé Cheatham is praised as a “wonderfully sensitive” performer with “crystalline diction” and a strong foundation in music, theatre art, and dance applications. An emerging new music artist in both concert and operatic repertoire, notable roles include Hannah before (As One), Brennan (Mallory) Blues Soloist/Street Singer (MASS), Betto di Signa (Gianni Schicchi), L’Aubergiste (Chérubin), Bob (Old Maid and the Thief), and Bernardo (Westside Story). They have been featured in numerous projects, including opera scenes, performing as: Sam, Trouble in Tahiti; Dr. Pangloss, Candide; and Figaro, Le nozze di Figaro. For five years, Rahzé served as a Section Leader and soloist for the Sanctuary Choir of First and Franklin Presbyterian Church. Armed with the perspective of the intersection of mis- and underrepresented communities, Rahzé seeks to break through an otherwise homogenous music scene. In addition to performing original works, Rahzé enjoys learning and performing works from 1900-forward, by little-known and unknown composers and poets, especially artists of color and LBGTQ-identified artists. While hosting a private voice studio of beginner, intermediate, and advanced students across multiple genres, they currently maintain teaching positions at the Baltimore School for the Arts and the Baltimore School of Music. Rahzé holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Minor in Music Theory from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University where they studied with American baritone William Sharp.
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Possessing “an ear for the new and interesting” (The New York Times), Laura Kaminsky frequently addresses critical social and political issues in her work with music that is "full of fire as well as ice, contrasting dissonance and violence with tonal beauty and meditative reflection. It is strong stuff.” (American Record Guide). Her first opera, As One, (2014; co-librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed) is the most produced contemporary opera in North America, with 50+ productions to date in the U.S., Europe, Canada, South America and Australia. The As One team has since been commissioned twice—by Houston Grand Opera for Some Light Emerges (2017) and Opera Parallèle/American Opera Projects for Today It Rains (2019). Hometown to the World (libretto: Reed; Santa Fe Opera) premiered in 2021, Finding Wright in 2022 (libretto: Andrea Fellows Fineberg; Dayton Opera). She is co-librettist (with novelist Lisa Moore) and composer for February, commissioned by Newfoundland’s Opera on the Avalon for 2023. Kaminsky was awarded the 2016 Polish Gold Cross of Merit (Zloty Krzyż Zasługi RP) by the President of Poland for exemplary public service or humanitarian work and has received six ASCAP-Chamber Music America Awards for Adventuresome Programming. Head of composition at Purchase College Conservatory of Music, she leads The American Opera Project's Artistic Advisory Council and sits on the boards of Opera America and the Hermitage Artist Retreat. Her music is recorded on the Affeto, Albany, Bridge, BSS, Cedille, CRI, Capstone, Mode, MSR, and Navona labels and is published by Bill Holab Music.
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The Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-winning work of librettist/lyricist Mark Campbell is at the forefront of the contemporary opera scene in this country. Mark has written 40 opera librettos, lyrics for 7 musicals and text for 8 song cycles and 4 oratorios. His works include Silent Night, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, The Shining, Elizabeth Cree, As One, Sanctuary Road, Stonewall, The Nefarious, Immoral but Highly Profitable Enterprise of Mr. Burke & Mr. Hare, Dinner At Eight, Rappahannock County, Later the Same Evening, Volpone, Approaching Ali, Bastianello/Lucrezia, and Songs from an Unmade Bed. Mark mentors future generations of opera composers and librettists at the American Opera Project and American Lyric Theater. In 2020, he also created and funded the first award for opera librettists in the history of the art form: the annual Campbell Opera Librettist Prize, administered by OPERA America. With his fellow As One collaborators, he also recently helped create the True Voice Award to help fund the training of transgender opera singers, administered by Washington National Opera. Premieres in 2022 include: A Sweet Silent in Cremona for Teatro Comunale Ponchielli, Unruly Sun for Orchestre Classique de Montréal, Edward Tulane for Minnesota Opera, A Year to the Day for The Violin Channel, A Thousand Acres for Des Moines Metro Opera, and A Nation of Others for the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall.
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ABOUT THE AMERICAN OPERA PROJECT |
Founded in 1988, The American Opera Project (AOP) is at the forefront of the contemporary opera movement through its commissioning, developing, and producing of opera and lyric theater projects, training programs for student and emerging composers and librettists, and free community events. AOP is recognized around the country for numerous groundbreaking works on LGBTQ themes like Paul's Case (Spears/Walat, UrbanArias, 2014), A Letter to East 11th Street (Hennessy/Campbell, AOP, 2004), four mini-operas about the Stonewall Uprising made in its opera training program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Patience & Sarah (Kimper/Persons, Lincoln Center Festival, 1998), the first major opera about a lesbian relationship, and As One (Kaminsky/Campbell/Reed, BAM, 2014), the first major opera about transgender issues and one of the most widely-produced contemporary operas written in the 21st Century. Current LGBTQ-themed works in development include House of Legendary (Rubinstein/Kim), a love story set in NYC's 1980s drag ball scene, and The Night Falls (Ludwig-Leone/Russell/Schumacher), a dance-opera premiering Spring 2023.
Press for AOP:
"known for bringing cutting-edge vocal productions to the masses" — New York Magazine
"a perfect first exposure to opera." — Time Out NY
"Bravo to AOP for supporting such controversial and ultimately important work." — Opera Today
"The future of American opera is in good hands." — Opera News
Media Contact: Meagan Brus, Director of Marketing and Communications
email: mbrus@aopopera.org
For additional press materials, visit: www.aopopera.org/press
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