Friday 7 May 2021

Laura Kaminsky's chamber opera, As One, to make its UK debut at 8th London Festival of American Music

London Festival of American Music

Odaline de la Martinez' London Festival of American Music is returning for its eighth iteration from 13 to 18 September 2021 at The Warehouse in Waterloo. This year, the festival will feature works by Florence Price, Daniel Asia, Margaret Bonds, Augusta Read Thomas, Fred Lehrdal and Odaline de la Martinez herself, plus the UK premiere of Laura Kaminsky's transgender opera As One.

Laura Kaminsky's 2014 chamber opera, As One, features a transgender protagonist who is played by two singers, here baritone Simon Wallfisch as Hannah before and mezzo-soprano Carolyn Dobbin Hannah after. The production is directed by Sarah Chew and Odaline de la Martinez conducts the London String Quartet. The opera was commissioned by American Opera Projects and premiered in 2014 at the Brooklyn Academy, New York, since then it has had more than 30 productions across the USA but this will only the second time that the work has been produced in Europe.

The festival also features Dr Samantha Ege performing the piano music of Florence Price [see my review of Ege's recent Price disc], mezzo-soprano Simone Ibbott-Brown, Lontano and Odaline de la Martinez in music by Augusta Read Thomas, Fred Lehrdal, Margaret Bonds, Florence Price and De la Martinez' Four Afro Cuban Poems by Nicolas Guillén, pianists Fanya Lin and Dan Linder in music by Daniel Asia,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts this month