by Delaney Meyers
Opening night of ContempOpera Cleveland’s production of Mark Kohn’s one-woman opera Mary Chestnut left a powerful and emotional impact on Friday, June 15, in the intimate James Levine Theater at Cleveland Public Theater. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
During the Civil War, writer Mary Chesnut — the wife of a senator and Confederate officer — kept a diary where she recorded significant moments in the conflict, wrote about the state of Southern society, and revealed secret feminist and abolitionist views.
She worked to revise the diary as a book, but died nineteen years before its eventual publication under the name A Diary from Dixie. Writers and historians continued to study the text as they discovered more of her papers, and the work’s staying power was affirmed when a 1981 annotated version won the Pulitzer Prize for History.
That woman’s perspective on the Civil War will now make its way to the opera stage. On Friday, June 15 at 7:00 pm at Cleveland Public Theatre’s James Levin Theatre, ContempOpera/ Cleveland will present the premiere of Mary Chesnut by Steven Mark Kohn, composition faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Soprano Andrea Anelli will take the title role in this production directed by Marla Berg and featuring Lorenzo Salvagni at the piano. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
With a mission to “give a voice to the composers of our time,” the latest addition to Northeast Ohio’s opera scene, ContempOpera/Cleveland, presented an impressive first installment of the company’s Incubator Series at Cleveland Public Theatre on Friday, June 9. The evening featured musical selections from five operas, some of them works in progress.
The evening began with two duets from Verlorene Heimat by Dawn L. Sonntag. The piece recounts the true story of East Prussian Nazi resistors and the Jewish-Ukrainian girl they sheltered during the final months of World War II. The haunting “Once I Had a Garden” was beautifully sung by sopranos Rebecca Freshwater and Andrea Anelli. Baritone Brian Keith Johnson joined Freshwater for the hopeful “I Promise I Will Find You.” Sonntag’s musical color palette is enticing, and the three singers gave heartfelt performances. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
With a mission to “give a voice to the composers of our time,” the latest addition to Northeast Ohio’s opera scene, ContempOpera/Cleveland, will bring that goal to life on Friday, June 9 at 7:30 pm at Cleveland Public Theatre with the first installment of the company’s Incubator Series. The performance will feature music by Cleveland composers Dawn Lenore Sonntag, Steven Mark Kohn, and Lorenzo Salvagni, as well as New York City-based Darryl Curry and Argentine Saúl Cosentino. The concert is part of CPT’s Free Beer Friday. [Read more…]