Photo Coverage: Remembering Billie Allen
by Walter McBride - Jan 13, 2016
As reported by The New York Times last weekend, Billie Allen, who helped "bridge the racial gap" both on and off-Broadway in the 1950s and '60s, passed away on December 29, 2015. She was 90 years old.
Opera Philadelphia Presents Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD, Now thru 6/14
by BWW News Desk - Jun 5, 2015
Legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955) was “a genius who lived fast and died young, revolutionizing an art form in a few short years” (NPR). The Grammy Award-winning bebop legend is the subject of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD, the first world premiere in almost four decades for Opera Philadelphia, recognized by Opera News as “one of the leading instigators of new work in the country.” The new chamber opera was created for American tenor Lawrence Brownlee, a nominee for the 2015 International Opera Male Singer of the Year Award, by composer Daniel Schnyder, whose “thrilling classical-tinged jazz blend…constantly pushes the envelope” (Jazz Times), to a libretto by award-winning poet and playwright Bridgette Wimberly. Directed by Ron Daniels under the leadership of Music Director Corrado Rovaris, Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD premieres in Opera Philadelphia's Aurora Series for Chamber Opera, crowning the company's 40th Anniversary Season with a five-performance run in the Kimmel Center's intimate Perelman Theater (June 5–14). Tickets are available from Ticket Philadelphia at 215.893.1018 or operaphila.org.
Opera Philadelphia to Premiere Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD, Today
by BWW
News Desk - Jun 5, 2015
Legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955) was "a genius who lived fast and died young, revolutionizing an art form in a few short years" (NPR). The Grammy Award-winning bebop legend is the subject of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD, the first world premiere in almost four decades for Opera Philadelphia, recognized by Opera News as "one of the leading instigators of new work in the country." The new chamber opera was created for American tenor Lawrence Brownlee, a nominee for the 2015 International Opera Male Singer of the Year Award, by composer Daniel Schnyder, whose "thrilling classical-tinged jazz blend…constantly pushes the envelope" (Jazz Times), to a libretto by award-winning poet and playwright Bridgette Wimberly. Directed by Ron Daniels under the leadership of Music Director Corrado Rovaris, Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD premieres in Opera Philadelphia's Aurora Series for Chamber Opera, crowning the company's 40th Anniversary Season with a five-performance run in the Kimmel Center's intimate Perelman Theater (June 5-14). Tickets are available from Ticket Philadelphia at 215.893.1018 or operaphila.org.
Opera Philadelphia Presents Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD, 6/5-14
by BWW News Desk - May 12, 2015
Legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955) was “a genius who lived fast and died young, revolutionizing an art form in a few short years” (NPR). The Grammy Award-winning bebop legend is the subject of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD, the first world premiere in almost four decades for Opera Philadelphia, recognized by Opera News as “one of the leading instigators of new work in the country.” The new chamber opera was created for American tenor Lawrence Brownlee, a nominee for the 2015 International Opera Male Singer of the Year Award, by composer Daniel Schnyder, whose “thrilling classical-tinged jazz blend…constantly pushes the envelope” (Jazz Times), to a libretto by award-winning poet and playwright Bridgette Wimberly. Directed by Ron Daniels under the leadership of Music Director Corrado Rovaris, Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD premieres in Opera Philadelphia's Aurora Series for Chamber Opera, crowning the company's 40th Anniversary Season with a five-performance run in the Kimmel Center's intimate Perelman Theater (June 5–14). Tickets are available from Ticket Philadelphia at 215.893.1018 or operaphila.org.
Opera Philadelphia Announces 2015 World Premiere of Charlie Parker's YARDBIRD
by BWW News Desk - Jan 30, 2014
David B. Devan, General Director and President of Opera Philadelphia, today announced the commissioning of a new opera based on the life of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955), one of the most influential soloists in the history of jazz and a central figure in the development of bebop. American tenor Lawrence Brownlee will star as Parker in a work written for him by composer Daniel Schnyder, with a libretto by poet and playwright Bridgette A. Wimberly. Soprano Angela Brownwill costar as Charlie's mother, Addie Parker. The opera is being developed in partnership with Gotham Chamber Opera.