OUR BASIC NATURE Plays The Greene Space At WNYC

AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS (AOP) will present a workshop of the new one-act opera Our Basic Nature, based on the extraordinary true story of a psychotherapist who for 12 years raised a chimpanzee named Lucy as his own daughter. The opera-in-development by composer John Glover with a libretto by Kelley Rourke will be presented on Friday, December 10 at 8 pm at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC, 44 Charlton Street, New York, NY 10014. Tickets are $20 and are available at the door or online at www.operaprojects.org.

The monodrama features baritone Andrew Wilkowske (The Grapes of Wrath) as Dr. Maurice Temerlin and the contemporary ensemble REDSHIFT under the musical direction of Jocelyn Dueck with projection design and stage direction by Erik Pearson. A post-concert conversation with the creators will be moderated by Charles Jarden, General Director of AOP.

Our Basic Nature is a multi-media work for baritone and chamber ensemble in one 45-minute act. Lucy Temerlin was a chimpanzee raised in a human family for the first 12 years of her life. In 1964, psychotherapist Dr. Maurice Temerlin and his wife Jane adopted the day-old chimpanzee in order to raise Lucy "as much as possible as though she were a human being." This one-act monodrama, using vignettes drawn from Temerlin's memoir Growing Up Human, explores the dynamic relationships between individuals of various species. Incorporating music and original projection design, Our Basic Nature explores the blurred lines between animal and man through this incredible story, recently featured on PRI's This American Life and WNYC's Radiolab.

Our Basic Nature is the latest from the AOP Monodrama Series that champions an operatic form that has been largely overlooked - the one-act for solo voice. In 2009 the monodrama version of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's L'abbé Agathon kicked off the series when it premiered at The Guggenheim Museum's Peter B. Lewis Theater featuring a commissionEd English translation by Cori Ellison. AOP monodramas currently in development include works by composers Tarik O'Regan and Daniel Felsenfeld and libretti by playwright Will Eno and poet Anna Rabinowitz.

For over 20 years, Brooklyn, NY's American Opera Projects (AOP) has been creating, developing and presenting exclusively new American opera and music Theatre Projects. Upcoming and recent productions of AOP-developed projects include Séance on a Wet Afternoon, the first opera by Stephen Schwartz, at New York City Opera in April 2011 and world premieres of Jorge Martín's Before Night Falls at Fort Worth Opera in 2010 and Tarik O'Regan's Heart of Darkness at The Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio in 2011.

MORE INFO AVAILABLE AT:
www.operaprojects.org and www.ourbasicnatureopera.com

BIOS
John Glover, composer
A composer by trade, John has composed music for theater, opera, and the concert hall. Commissions from organizations and musicians including the American Conservatory Theater (War Music), Baltimore Opera (Huck Finn: A Children's Opera), and violist Liuh-Wen Ting (Life-Cycles) have distinguished him as an emerging voice in contemporary music. He currently lives in New York City where he co-curates the music/art series NewYorksoundCircut at the Brecht Forum and is operations manager for the American Composers Orchestra.

Kelley Rourke, librettist/dramaturg
Kelley Rourke's adaptation of The Elixir of Love for Sir Jonathan Miller's recent production at English National Opera was praised for its "crackingly witty translation" (The Independent). Other adaptations include Orpheus in the Underworld for Glimmerglass Opera (2007); and The Magic Flute (2005) and The Abduction from the Seraglio (2004), both for the In Series (Washington, DC). Rourke is dramaturg at Glimmerglass Opera, where she has been on staff since 1994.

Andrew Wilkowske, baritone
Widely known for his expertise in modern repertoire, Andrew Wilkowske's engagements this season include Bitter Sweet with Skylark Opera, The Chocolate Soldieri at Bard Summerscape, Der Kaiser von Atlantis with Boston Lyric Opera, and Carmina Burana with the Minnesota Orchestra. A member of the Minnesota Opera premiere cast of The Grapes of Wrath, Wilkowske recently reprised the role of Noah with The Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall.

REDSHIFT, ensemble
REDSHIFT is an ensemble of young, dynamic musicians with a commitment to performing contemporary music in distinctive venues. The ensemble's core members draw on vast experience performing all types of classical music--from the traditional to wildly experimental. Their recent performances have been described as "a knockout" (San Francisco Classical Voice).

Jocelyn Dueck, music director
Pianist Jocelyn Dueck has performed in recent months at Steinway Hall, Tenri Cultural Institute and Symphony Space, New York. In addition to being a founding member of the new music duo Two Sides Sounding, she is a featured artist on the rosters of The Phoenix Players, the Five Boroughs Music Festival, and the Bhakti Project. A frequent performer of new music, Jocelyn has debuted works by Lisa Bielawa, Corey Dargel, Les Six composer Louis Durey, Judd Greenstein, Daron Hagen, Edie Hill, and Gilda Lyons.

Erik Pearson, projection designer and director
Most recently Erik Pearson designed projections for STREB and the Asia Society's Heading East with BD Wong, The Magic, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Marin Theatre Company, Center Rep, and at UCSC where he taught as a lecturer in theatrical projection design. He has directed in New York at The Playwrights Realm, HERE, and terraNOVA as well as regionally for The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Shakespeare Santa Cruz and BRAVA!

 

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