Washington National Opera to Premiere APPROACHING ALI, 6/8-9

Washington National Opera (WNO) will present the world premiere of Approaching Ali on Friday and Saturday, June 8-9, 2013 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Approaching Ali features music by composer D.J. Sparr and a libretto by Mark Campbell and Davis Miller, based on Miller's own autobiographical novella. This new work is the first hourlong opera created under the auspices of the American Opera Initiative, WNO's new commissioning program for contemporary American opera, and will be directed by Nicole Watson in her WNO debut.

Approaching Ali tells the story of a young boy in North Carolina in the early 1960s who overcomes the loss of his mother and the trauma of being bullied when he sees Muhammad Ali on television. More than 20 years later, as a writer on the brink of middle age, he seeks to rekindle that spirit by visiting his boyhood hero in person at the home of Ali's mother in Louisville. The work will be performed in English and will feature a 10-piece chamber orchestra conducted by former Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Steven Jarvi.

The cast is led by baritone David Kravitz in his WNO debut as Davis Miller. In addition to appearances with companies like New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Kravitz has served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Sandra Day O'Connor and is the founder of Blue Mass Group, one of the most widely read independent political blogs in New England. Fresh from his appearances as Joe in WNO's Show Boat, D.C. native and Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Soloman Howard takes on the role of Muhammad Ali. Former Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Aundi Marie Moore portrays Ali's mother, Odessa Clay, and local boy soprano Ethan McKelvain plays the role of Young Davis. Rounding out the cast are Tim Augustin as Roy Miller and Catherine Martin as Sara Miller.

Following a successful launch in November 2012, WNO will continue its American Opera Initiative next season and present an evening featuring the world premieres of three 20- minute operas on November 13, 2013 in the Terrace Theater. Each opera will focus on a contemporary American theme, and once again the composers and librettists will work with a trio of mentors: conductor Anne Manson, composer Jake Heggie, and librettist Mark Campbell. More information about the composer-librettist teams selected for the second season of the American Opera Initiative will be announced in the coming months.

WNO's 2013-2014 season includes Tristan and Isolde starring Deborah Voigt, a new production of The Force of Destiny directed by WNO Francesca Zambello, the East Coast premiere of Moby-Dick, a revival of The Elixir of Love, and a new production of The Magic Flute. WNO will also present the world premiere of The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me, a holiday- themed family opera commissioned by WNO and written by acclaimed American composer Jeanine Tesori. A second season of the American Opera Initiative will continue WNO's efforts to commission new American works. One performance of The Magic Flute will be simulcast to Nationals Park as part of M&M'S Opera in the Outfield.

About the Composer and Librettists:

D.J. SPARR

An accomplished composer and electric guitarist, D.J. Sparr has caught the attention of critics with his eclectic style. He currently holds the Young American Composer-in-Residence position with the California Symphony Orchestra, where his works have been premiered by Nicholas McGegan and Donato Cabrera. Recent world premieres have been by the Dayton Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, Eighth Blackbird, and the Hexnut Ensemble. This spring, Centaur Records releases a CD of his chamber music, which was supported by a grant from New Music USA's CAP Recording Program. In May, he will be the soloist on his new work "Violet Bond: Concerto-Overture" with the California Symphony Orchestra. He was awarded the $10,000 grand prize in the orchestra category of the BMG/Williams College National Young Composers Competition and has received awards and recognition from BMI, the American Music Center, Eastman School of Music, George Washington University, the League of Composers/ISCM, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.

Mark Campbell

Mark Campbell wrote the libretto for Silent Night, which received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music for composer Kevin Puts. The work was given its premiere by Minnesota Opera in 2011 and was produced by Opera Philadelphia in February 2013. His other operatic works include: Volpone, Later That Same Evening, Rappahannock County, and Bastianello/Lucrezia. Musical theater works include: Songs From an Unmade Bed, The Audience, Before the Curtain Rises, and Splendora. His numerous awards include a Grammy nomination, the first Kleban Foundation Award for Lyricist, two Richard Rodgers Awards, two Drama Desk Award nominations, a Jonathan Larson Award, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Award for Playwriting.

DAVIS MILLER

Davis Miller is the author of several interrelated books of literary memoir, including The Tao of Muhammad Ali: A Fathers and Sons Memoir, on which the opera Approaching Ali is based. Miller's first published story, "My Dinner with Ali," was judged by David Halberstam to be one of the 20 best pieces of sports writing of the 20th century. In 2010 Cool Tools named "My Dinner with Ali" one of the world's best-ever magazine stories. "My Dinner with Ali" has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century, The Beholder's Eye: America's Finest Personal Journalism, and The Muhammad Ali Reader. He has written for numerous newspapers and magazines, including The Washington Post, The (London) Independent, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Louisville Courier-Journal, Esquire, Men's Journal, Rolling Stone, GQ, and Arena, among many others. His non-fiction short story "The Zen of Muhammad Ali" was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing and was anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, 1994.

Approaching Ali Performance and Ticket Information Saturday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m. ♦ Sunday, June 9 at 2 p.m. There will be a Q&A with the artists and creative team following both performances. All tickets are $30 and are available at the Kennedy Center Box Office, by calling (202) 467- 4600 or (800) 444-1324, or online at www.kennedy-center.org.

Washington National Opera (WNO) is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. Founded in 1956 and now an affiliate of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the company boasts numerous artistic highlights, including world premieres, commissioning of new works and new productions, international tours, and performances by some of opera's most admired artists. WNO productions have been heard around the world, through radio and television broadcasts on WETA-FM, NPR, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, and PBS, as well as through audio and video recordings.

This season, WNO launches the American Opera Initiative, a comprehensive new commissioning program that brings contemporary American stories to the stage while fostering and developing the talents of new American composers and librettists. WNO contributes to the future of opera through two other signature artist-development programs: the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program is a leading resident-training program for artists on the verge of international careers, and the WNO Opera Institute nurtures the ambitions of high-school-age singers and pianists from across the nation during an intensive three-week summer program.

WNO's education and access initiatives include year-round programs in public schools throughout the region; Generation O, a popular discount-ticket initiative for young people; and a variety of lectures and discussions for every production on the season calendar. Among the most popular of WNO's community programs is M&M'S Opera in the Outfield, which brings free, live simulcasts of opera to Nationals Park for thousands of opera fans as well as new audiences.

For more information about Washington National Opera, visit www.kennedy-center.org/wno.

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