The Wanton Sublime hailed as emotionally captivating and beautifully written

The Wanton Sublime, composed by Tarik O’Regan with a libretto by American poet Anna Rabinowitz, focuses on the character of the Virgin Mary as she grapples with the terror of being chosen for a divine purpose. Originally developed in NYC with American Opera Projects, it was just performed at the Grimeborn Festival in East London. Hai Ting Chinn was the star in this one woman opera, conducted by Andrew Griffiths, who lead the Orpheus Sinfonia, and directed by Robert Shaw. A strong, well-rounded production, The Wanton Sublime gives a new voice to a classic figure through powerful text, beautiful melodic lines, a simple production, and atypical instrumentation.

Hai-Ting Chinn in The Wanton Sublime (Grimeborn – Arcola Theatre)
© Robert Workman

Tim Ashley, writing for The Guardian, applauded the “…bluesy rebelliousness and Monteverdian lyricism…” of Tarik O’Regan’s music in The Wanton Sublime, citing a beautiful moment in which the Virgin Mary is torn between her fear and her faith as “…Chinn sings against a playback of her own voice singing sacred texts…”. Rupert Christiansen of The Telegraph was also impressed by O’Regan’s music, praising its unfaltering heartbeat and melody “…weaving a richly melismatic vocal line into a strikingly coloured orchestral score delicately enhanced by electronic effects. Never sterile or mechanical it seems to have a living organic pulse.”

The What’sOnStage review  by Mark Valencia complemented the music and the characterization of the Virgin Mary calling the opera “…musically rich…and also philosophically absorbing.” Valencia appreciates how Rabinowitz presents Mary as”…a strong young woman who questions, challenges and even defies the God who has slated her to be the mother of Christ.” Tim Ashley (The Guardian) also enjoyed the emotional depth of the opera, “The underlying point, integral to much mystic literature, is that divine intervention has the bewildering potential to shatter lives and identities.” Edward Bhesania’s review for The Stage compliments Rabinowitz’s and O’Regan’s creative partnership as Mary’s character “…begins with incredulity and disdain before finally reaching acceptance, by which point both music and text have attained a more sublime tone.” The EveningStandard review, written by Barry Millington, also applauds their collaboration, stating “…Rabinowitz’s text explores the nervous longings of an idealised iconic figure, complemented by Tarik O’Regan’s inventive and attractive score…”

Hai-Ting Chinn in The Wanton Sublime (Grimeborn – Arcola Theatre)
© Robert Workman

Valencia (What’sOnStage) also describes the minimalist staging by Robert Shaw “…commendably simple staging presents her as a power dressed young professional who changes midway through into simpler clothes that better assert her individuality. It’s a subtle transition, and beautifully judged.” Edward Bhesania (The Stage) complimented the instrumentation which “…uses a 9 piece band (including electric guitar and rums to underpin the journey of the Virgin Mary figure stripped of her iconic symbolism and grappling in today’s world of her unasked-for role.”

AOP began developing the monodrama in 2009 and co-produced its premiere at Roulette in Brooklyn in 2014. AOP had previously worked with Tarik O’Regan on his first opera Heart of Darkness and with Anna Rabinowitz on Darkling, another operatic adaptation of a book of her poetry. Darkling, music by Stefan Weisman, was commissioned and developed by AOP.

AOP PRODUCTIONS REACH NEW STAGES

American Opera Projects is pleased to announce that several of its recent productions will be produced on stages around the country. Lera Auerbach’s The Blind, Tarik O’Regan and Tom Phillips’ Heart of Darkness, and Laura Kaminsky, Mark Campbell, and Kimberly Reed’s As One are each being performed in the coming months.

 Cast and Crew of The Blind At Lincoln Center Festival, 2013. Photo by Matt Gray

Composer Lera Auerbach‘s The Blind  will be presented by Central City Opera in their Summer 2015 Festival. The production was created and directed by John La Bouchardière and first produced by AOP in collaboration with Lincoln Center in 2013. This unusual a cappella opera for 12 singers is transformed into a unique theatrical experience by La Bouchardière’s unconventional production, which requires that the audience be blindfolded so that they must enter the world of the characters. “It’s not the characters who are blind,” said composer Lera Auerbach in a New York Times interview about the one-act opera, “The message is that we are the blind.  With all our means of communication we see each other less and connect to each other less.  We have less understanding and compassion for other people…” Adapted from an 1890 play by Maurice Maeterlinck, the story is about a dozen blind people who are taken by their priest on an outing.  When the elderly priest suddenly dies, they are stranded on an island left helpless and scared. The group realizes that they never really knew the priest as a person as they stumble upon his cold, dead body.  A Russian- American composer, Lera Auerbach wrote The Blind in 1994 while she was a student at Colorado’s Aspen Music Festival.

Royal Opera House Production of Heart of Darkness, London, 2011. Photo by Tristram Kenton.

Composer Tarik O’Regan‘s Heart of Darkness  will receive it’s U.S. premiere in San Francisco’s Z space by Opera Parallèle early May 2015. The opera was developed by AOP for several years, starting in 2006, and received it’s world premiere in London in collaboration with with Opera East, OperaGenesis and the Royal Opera House in the Linbury Studio Theater of the Royal Opera House in 2011. Adapted from the novella by Joseph Conrad by librettist Tom Phillips, Heart of Darkness is a powerful opera that portrays the greedy world of ivory smugglers in Central Africa as narrated by the central character, Marlow. In this new production, the plot unfolds through a series of short, fast-paced scenes that gradually increase in tension, as Marlow’s tale approaches its climax. O’Regan grew up in London, where he was born in 1978, spending some of his childhood in Morocco and Algeria. His music, recorded on over 25 albums and nominated for two GRAMMY’S®, is published exclusively by Novello & Co./G. Schirmer, Inc.

Kelly Markgraf, Sasha Cooke, and members of the Fry Street Quartet, BAM, 2014. Photo by Ken Howard

Finally, AOP’s recent production of As One will tour to the Caine College of the Arts, part of Utah State University in Logan, Utah. After its September production and premiere at BAM, the critical response has been overwhelmingly positive with critics declaring it “a piece that haunts and challenges” (Opera News), “artistically distinguished, socially important” (WQXR), and “satisfying in an entertaining and delicately moving way” (NY Observer). In the chamber opera by composer Laura Kaminsky, librettist Mark Campbell and librettist/filmmaker Kimberly Reed, a mezzo-soprano and a baritone depict the experiences of its sole transgender protagonist, Hannah, as she endeavors to resolve the discord between her self and the outside world. The work featured performances by Sasha Cooke, Kelly Markgraf, and The Fry Street Quartet, stage direction by Ken Cazan, and music direction by Steven Osgood.

Heart of Darkness orchestral suite premieres in London

Tarik O’Regan

When Heart of Darkness (developed by AOP) premièred at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studios in 2011 it met with great acclaim for its ‘music of startling beauty’ (The Observer) and ‘a magical and haunting sound-world’ (The Telegraph).

Composer Tarik O’Regan has now developed Suite from Heart of Darkness for orchestra and narrator. Tom Phillips, the original librettist, has worked closely from Joseph Conrad’s novella to create the text.

The London première of Suite from Heart of Darkness will be held at Cadogan Hall on Tuesday 23rd April at 7.30pm. The concert is part of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Resident Season, will be conducted by Nicholas Collon and narrated by Sam West. Seats can be reserved here.

Go on Tarik’s website for more detail.

Heart of Darkness Nominated for SBSA Award

The World Premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s one-act opera Heart of Darkness (with libretto by Tom Phillips, based on the novella by Joseph Conrad) was nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Award* this past week, “one of the world’s most coveted arts awards…celebrating the best of British culture and achievement.”  The ceremony will be held at The Dorchester (London) on May 1, 2012, hosted by English broadcaster and author Melvyn Bragg.

Heart of Darkness was first developed by AOP from 2006-08, before beginning preparations for its World Premiere at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio Theatre in November 2011, co-produced by Opera East and the Royal Opera House.

For additional information, read the press articles from Chester Novello, Genesis Foundation, and The Bookseller.

*(Can’t find it on the nominee list?  Scroll down to the “Literature” heading and look at the last line; the “Opera” heading was accidentally listed in the middle.)

AOP and ONJ Team Up for Two Operatic Monodramas

AOP and Opera New Jersey are proud to announce their second summer of collaboration with this July’s Two Operatic Monodramas, after their inaugural partnership last year with Thomas Pasatieri’s The Family Room.

Two Operatic Monodramas –  featuring The Wanton Sublime, by composer Tarik O’Regan and librettist Anna Rabinowitz, and Our Lady, by composer Gregory Spears with texts from medieval Provençal – examines the human and mythic aspects of the Virgin Mary.  Both monodramas will be presented as staged readings on July 21st and 22nd at McCarter Theater Center in Princeton, NJ.

 The Wanton Sublime will feature mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn raising questions about Mary’s role as the “eternal feminine.”  Countertenor Ryland Angel joins AOP once again to sing of Mary’s sorrow and love in Our Lady, following two performances of the same work in Fall 2011.  Conductor Steven Osgood will lead an ensemble of strings and keyboard under the stage direction of Crystal Manich.

AOP and ONJ present

Two Operatic Monodramas

Our Lady by Gregory Spears
The Wanton Sublime by Tarik O’Regan & Anna Rabinowitz

July 21 at 2 p.m.
July 22 at 7:30 p.m.

Buy tickets online or call Opera New Jersey at (609) 799-7700.