Introducing... The Angel's Share
My friends...it is with trembling anticipation that I announce to you the launch of our new concert series, The Angel's Share, in the Catacombs of The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, presented by Unison Media in partnership with the glorious people at Green-Wood.
Each performance will feature a sunset reception on the highest hill in Brooklyn, overlooking the Manhattan skyline, with a whiskey tasting, beer and a light repast.
At dusk, we'll descend into the Catacombs for a performance of momentous proportions, by some of classical music and opera's top stars.
Read on below to learn more, and pick up your tickets soon - we expect to sell out very quickly.
The Angel’s Share is generously sponsored by Yamaha (who provide the pianos), and Virgil Kaine Lowcountry Whiskey Co, Five & 20 Distillery, and Prizefight Irish Whiskey (who provide the whiskey).
June 6, 8, and 10
David Hertzberg
The Rose Elf (World Premiere)
Directed by R. B. Schlather
Starring Samantha Hankey
THE LONG STORY:
The Angel’s Share kicks off with the World Premiere of The Rose Elf, a chamber opera by composer David Hertzberg, directed by the visionary R. B. Schlather and starring award-winning mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey. Hertzberg just won MCANA’s “Best New Opera Award” for his last work, The Wake World (based on famed occultist Aleister Crowley), and in The Rose Elf he tells the tale of two lovers torn apart by a senseless act of violence; and of a strange and sensuous being, at once near and distant, who witnesses this tragedy and is transformed.
THE SHORT STORY:
The musical event of the summer. Just don’t come expecting a heartwarming Christmas fable starring Will Ferrell….
THE PROGRAM:
Hertzberg: The Rose Elf (World Premiere)
THE PERFORMERS
SINGERS
Samantha Hankey, The Elf
Alisa Jordheim, The Girl/Luna
Kyle Bielfield, The Beloved/Horus
Andrew Bogard, The Brother
ORCHESTRA
Teddy Poll, conductor
Zhenwei Li, clarinet
Bryn Coveney, horn
Bradley Loudis, percussion
Euntaek Kim, piano
Shannon Lee, violin
Abigail Fayette, violin
Sung Jin Lee, viola
John-Henry Crawford, cello
Sam Casseday, bass
The Rose Elf was developed within the Opera Philadelphia Composer in Residence Program supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
These performances are part of the third annual New York Opera Fest, which features more than 30 opera performances around New York City throughout May and June, 2018.
August 6 & 7
Bridget Kibbey & Friends
The Sacred and the Profane
THE LONG STORY:
Harpist-slash-rockstar Bridget Kibbey brings a haunting program to the catacombs, accompanied by a crack team of top-shelf string players. Together, they’ll perform music that hovers in the shadows between darkness and light, from Debussy’s Sacred and Profane dances, to Bach’s haunting Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, to the grand finale: André Caplet’s gripping Conte Fantastique.
THE SHORT STORY:
After hearing Bridget Kibbey, you will never look at the harp the same way again. This is a program perfectly suited to the space, with an absolute luxury cast of performers.
THE PROGRAM:
Debussy: Danses Sacrée et Profane
Saint-Saëns: Fantaisie
Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
Britten: Lachrymae
Caplet: Conte Fantastique
THE PERFORMERS:
Chad Hoopes, violin
Grace Park, violin
Matthew Lipman, viola
Mihai Marica, cello
August 25 and 26
Christina and Michelle Naughton
An American in Paris
THE LONG STORY:
Said The Washington Post of twin sister piano duo Christina and Michelle Naughton: “They have to be heard to be believed.” And indeed, the pair performs with an almost inconceivably telepathic connection. For The Angel’s Share, the Naughtons will play a program bookended by Leonard Bernstein, in celebration of his 100th birthday year (and also because his final resting place is but a stone’s throw from the catacombs). In between, the pair will alternate between American and French composers, including Ravel’s shimmering Ma mère l'Oye and Debussy’s En Blanc et Noir.
THE SHORT STORY:
Hear and believe. The Naughtons are unlike any other ensemble, and watching them commune up close is a one-of-a-kind, unforgettable musical experience.
THE PROGRAM:
Bernstein: Overture to Candide
Ravel: Ma mère l'Oye
Nancarrow: Sonatine
Poulenc: Sonata for Four Hands
Bolcom: Recuerdos
Debussy: En Blanc et Noir
Copland: El Salon arr. Bernstein
THE PERFORMERS:
Christina Naughton, piano
Michelle Naughton, piano
September 24
The JACK Quartet
Modern Medieval
THE LONG STORY:
The JACK Quartet were called “superheroes of the new music world” by The Boston Globe, and there could be no more apt description for this endlessly adventurous ensemble. They’ve played pieces completely in the dark, used vibrators on their instruments, performed on a raft in the middle of a lake, and more. For The Angel’s Share, they will play an extraordinary program that follows a musical thread from medieval plainsong through to the present day, drawing sonic similarities from wildly divergent works and echoing the timelessness of the space surrounding them.
THE SHORT STORY:
A chance to hear one of the most restless, innovative, and musically intense string ensembles in the world, up close and personal in a program that transcends time and space.
THE PROGRAM:
Solage: Fumeux Fume par Fumée
Rodericus: Angelorum Psalat arr. Christopher Otto
Thomas Morley: Cristes Crosse
Chaya Czernowin: String Quartet
Brian Ferneyhough: Dum Transisset
Marc Sabat: Jean-Philippe Rameau
THE PERFORMERS:
Christopher Otto, violin
Austin Wulliman, violin
John Pickford Richards, viola
Jay Campbell, cello
October 10 and 11
Gregg Kallor
Sketches from Frankenstein (World Premiere)
In partnership with On Site Opera
THE LONG STORY:
Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking novel Frankenstein was published 200 years ago, essentially inventing the horror genre. But far from the grunting Hollywood brutishness of Boris Karloff, the original told the heartbreaking story of a living, feeling creature, brought into the world only to be forsaken by his creator and left to fend for himself. Drawing the parallels to modern society, pianist/composer Gregg Kallor will offer the World Premiere of a new suite of operatic sketches based on the monster’s harrowing tale, in partnership with the amazing folks at On Site Opera. The program will also feature other acclaimed vocal works by Kallor, as well as the premiere of a solo piano piece dedicated to Leonard Bernstein, a permanent Green-Wood resident.
THE SHORT STORY:
There’s a monster lurking in all of us - let one of New York’s most soulful, searching composers show you the true nature of Frankenstein. The individual performance series of The Angel’s Share could not end on a higher note than this.
THE PROGRAM:
Kallor: The answer is: Yes (World Premiere)
Kallor: The Tell-Tale Heart
Kallor: Sketches from Frankenstein (World Premiere)
THE PERFORMERS:
Gregg Kallor, piano
Joshua Roman, cello
Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano
Sarah Meyers, director
additional performers t.b.a.