The 2005-06 Season

• AOP on the Road – Oct. 27, 2005. Poetry Society of America Anniversary Reading: 95 Years of American Poetry. Musical interludes presented by American Opera Projects with readings by poets Edward Hirsch, Mary Karr, Galway Kinnell, Yusef Komunyakaa, Philip Levine, Paul Muldoon, Robert Pinsky, Sonia Sanchez, Vijay Seshadri, Mark Strand, Maria Tucc, and Jean Valentine reading their favorite American poems from 1910 to the present. Music performed by Marcus DeLoach, Amy Van Roekel, and Grant Loehnig. Co-sponsored by Cooper Union Office of Continuing Education & Public Programs. The Great Hall, Cooper Union. 7 East 7th Street at 3rd Avenue, NYC.

• AOP First Chance – Oct. 27-28, 2005. The Orphan Singer, music by Antonio Vivaldi, based on the book written and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully, adapted for the stage by Barbara Zinn Krieger, music selection and arrangement by Rick Erickson. Presented at the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 3 West 65th Street, and the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, 85 South Oxford Street. Commissioned by Making Books Sing.

• AOP First Chance – – Nov. 13-14, 2005. Scenes from Darkling, music by Stefan Weisman and Lee Hoiby, based on the poetry of Anna Rabinowitz, written and directed by Michael Comlish. Part of Works & Process at the Guggenheim development series. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th St. 8:00 pm.

• AOP WORLD PREMIERE – February 28 - March 18, 2006. World premiere of Darkling, music by Stefan Weisman and Lee Hoiby, text: Darkling: A Poem by Anna Rabinowitz, adapted and directed by Michael Comlish. East 13th Street Theater, 136 East 13th St., NYC. 8:00 pm.

• AOP Conversations – February 26, March 4, 7, & 14, 2006. “Bringing Darkling to Light” Post-show discussion with Michael Comlish, Anna Rabinowitz, and the creators of Darkling on the development of the new stage show. East 13th Street Theater, 136 East 13th St., NYC.

• AOP 18-Year Retrospective Celebration – March 8, 2006. Performances highlighting AOP’s 18 years of producing new music. Selections from A Letter to East 11th Street (Hennessy, Campbell); Fireworks (Brazelton, Aronson); Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Peaslee, Cavander); Lost Childhood (Hamer, Azrael); Patience & Sarah (Kimper, Persons); Rent (Larsen); Romeo and Juliet (Hoiby) and more. East 13th Street Theater, 136 East 13th St., NYC. 7:00 pm.

• AOP on the Road – March 19, 2006. New American Opera Previews with Midge Woolsey. Opera Index and Manhattan School of Music present AOP in a workshop performance of Exiles by Renée Favand. Manhattan School of Music, Greenfield Hall. 2:30 pm.

• AOP on the Road – May 6, 2006. NYCOpera presents VOX & Friends featuring premiere of Geographies & Selves by Lee Hoiby presented by American Opera Projects. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Place, NYC, 8 pm.

• AOP Composers and the Voice — May 19-20, 2006. First Glimpse 2006: Presentation of works from the 2005-06 Resident Company at South Oxford Space, 138 S. Oxford Street, Brooklyn, 8 pm.

• AOP Libretto Reading – May 22-23, 2006. Libretto reading of Lost Childhood, music by Janice Hamer, libretto by Mary Azrael, based on the Holocaust memoir by Yehuda Nir. The Juilliard School, Room 305. 6:00pm

• AOP First Chance – June 02 – 03, 2006. Concert reading of scenes from Stefania DeKennesey’s Bonfire of the Vanities (based on the novel by Tom Wolfe), Tarik O’Regan’s Heart of Darkness (based on the novella by Joseph Conrad, libretto by Tom Phillips), and Richard Wargo’s Sharon’s Grave (based on the play by John B. Keane). South Oxford Space, 138 S. Oxford Street, Brooklyn, 8:00 pm.

• AOP on the Road – June 06, 2006. Concert reading of scenes from Darkling, music by Stefan Weisman and Lee Hoiby, text: Darkling: A Poem by Anna Rabinowitz, adapted and directed by Michael Comlish. Post-show panel discussion with creators. Co-production with Friends of Freie Universität Berlin as part of Jewish Documentary Film, Theater and Speaker Series, German Consulate General, Auditorium, 1st Ave. @ 49th St, NYC. 7:00 pm.

Geographies & Selves