American Opera Projects Hosts A Workshop Of PAUL'S CASE

To celebrate and complement BAM's Opera Festival, Fort Greene's American Opera Projects, in association with the Manhattan School of Music, presents a staged workshop of Act Two of Paul's Case, the opera-in-progress by Gregory Spears, based on the story by Willa Cather. The opera-in-development by will feature tenor Thomas Wazelle as Paul and students from the Manhattan School of Music under the direction of Pat Diamond and music direction by Silas Huff. The performance will be presented on Saturday, March 20, at 4:00 PM at South Oxford Space at 138 South Oxford St. in Fort Greene, Brooklyn with the Manhattan School of Music performance on Sunday, March 14, at 2:30 PM at Greenfield Hall, 120 Claremont Avenue (at 122nd St.), in collaboration with Opera Index.

A post-show discussion with the composer moderated by WQXR radio host Midge Woolsey will follow the March 14 performance. Tickets are $20 / $15 for students and seniors, available at www.operaprojects.org.

Adapted from Willa Cather's short story by Gregory Spears and Kathryn Walat, Paul's Case chronicles the dissolution of a high school dandy living in sooty turn-of-the-century Pittsburgh. Paul, fleeing a mundane life, escapes to New York City's Waldorf Astoria to experience a week of cosmopolitan luxury. Unable to maintain his credibility, he devises a final act of shocking audacity that has confounded critics and readers alike. The music of Paul's Case weds a florid vocal style inspired by baroque opera with a post-minimal structural sensibility. American Opera Projects has developed the opera since 2008 with a recent workshop production in Philadelphia earning the work a spot on the Philadelphia Inquirer's "Best in Classical Music 2009" list.

Gregory Spears writes opera and chamber music that combines elements of Early Music and Minimalism within a Romantic sound world. In 2001 the American Composers Orchestra played his orchestral work Circle Stories during their annual Whitaker New Music Readings in New York. More recently the ACO performed his work Finishing in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2008. In 2007 Spears collaborated with musicologist Simon Morrison to realize the original score for Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet for premiere by the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Bard Festival in 2008. His newest work, A Breton Requiem, was commissioned by choreographer Christopher Williams and will be premiered in New York in June. Full bio at www.gregoryspears.com.

For over 20 years, American Opera Projects (AOP) has been creating, developing and presenting exclusively new American opera and music theatre projects that have appeared at the Royal Opera House (London), the Lincoln Center Festival, Skirball Center at NYU, the Guggenheim Museum, Symphony Space, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Israel Vocal Arts Institute (Tel Aviv), Freie Universität Berlin, and many other national and international venues. AOP, based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, has produced over 15 world premiere operas including Lee Hoiby's This Is the Rill Speaking (2008), Stefan Weisman's Darkling (2006), and Paula Kimper's Patience & Sarah (1998). Upcoming world premieres of AOP-developed projects include 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.

Paul's Case - workshop of Act II
Music by Gregory Spears
Libretto by Gregory Spears and Kathryn Walat
Based on the story by Willa Cather
Directed by Pat Diamond
Music Direction by Silas Huff
Featuring Thomas Wazelle and students from the Manhattan School of Music.

Sunday, March 14 - 2:30 PM
New American Opera Previews: From Page to Stage
with WQXR's Midge Woolsey
Manhattan School of Music - Greenfield Hall
120 Claremont Ave. (@122nd St.)
New York, New York 10027

ADMISSION (March 14): $20 / $15 advance / $10 students & seniors
(212) 721-9828 to order tickets

Saturday March 20 - 4:00 PM
South Oxford Space
138 South Oxford St. (btwn Hanson Pl. & Atlantic Ave.)
Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY 11217

ADMISSION (March 20): $20 / $15 students & seniors
Tickets available at www.operaprojects.org; cash/check at the door.