Strouse premiere opens Eastman Opera
new opera by Charles Strouse '48E--one of Broadway's most prolific composers--launches Eastman Opera Theatre's new season this fall.
The world premiere performances of Strouse's new work, The Future of the American Musical Theater, will take place at 8 p.m., November 4, 5, and 6, and at 2 p.m., November 7, in Eastman's Kilbourn Hall. Presented alongside and performed as a companion piece to Strouse's 1985 opera Nightingale, the operas together are billed as East and West.
"East and West is a pairing of operas--one taking place in China (East) and the other in Florida (West)," explains Strouse, the Tony and Grammy Awardwinning composer. "They are both myths: one having to do with a great emperor and his victory over death, and the other with American 'royalty' and their victory over the Broadway stage." Eastman Opera Theatre Dramatic Director Steven Daigle says West is essentially about the intrigues of theater relationships played out against the backdrop of the dedication of a new performing arts center in Florida. Both operas have a distinctive "American" mindset; East will be told with a modern, pop-culture twist, using the character of "the Storyteller" to provide the thread that weaves the two stories together.
Strouse's new score--arranged for orchestra by Jairo Duarte-Lopez, an Eastman graduate student in composition, and Michaela Eremiasova--will be performed by a special Eastman student orchestra under the direction of Benton Hess, Eastman Opera Theatre's music director.
East and West is a bonanza for fans of Strouse, who is perhaps best known for his hit musicals Annie and Bye Bye Birdie as well as a multitude of memorable scores for television, cinema, and the concert stage.
"The Eastman School was where it all began for me," says Strouse. "With the performances of East and West at Eastman, a lovely little circle is completed. Part of that circle is that West is about Broadway, which is another aspect of my musical life and where many opera singers and composers are pointing these days."
Reserved seating tickets are available in person or online through the RPO Box Office, by phone at 454-2100, or at any Rochester-area Wegmans Video Departments. Any unsold tickets may be purchased at the Kilbourn Hall box office one hour before the start of each performance.
In addition, the Friends of Eastman Opera will sponsor a special pre-performance talk about East and West by Russell Miller, associate professor of vocal coaching and repertory. The talk, which is free and open to the public, will take place in Room 120 of the Eastman School at 7 p.m., November 4, 5, and 6, and at 1 p.m., November 7.
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