Encompass New Opera Theatre
Encyclopedia
Encompass New Opera Theatre is a professional opera company located in New York City
which specializes in premiering new productions, and reviving 20th century operas by American and international composers. A member of Opera America
, Encompass was founded in 1975 by Nancy Rhodes who remains the company's Artistic Director. Since its founding, Encompass has produced over 50 fully mounted operas with orchestra as well as staged reading
s of more than 150 new works.
The company's first production was Virgil Thomson
's 1947 opera, The Mother of Us All
.
Other past productions have included:
In 2009 the company received an "Access to Artistic Excellence" from The National Endowment for the Arts to fund the world premiere production of The Theory of Everything by composer John David Earnest and librettist, Nancy Rhodes. Excerpts from the work in progress were presented at New York City Opera
's VOX 2007 Festival.
Encompass has had three music directors in its history, Jack Gaughan (1975-1993), John Yaffé (1993-2008), and Mara Waldman (2008-present).
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
which specializes in premiering new productions, and reviving 20th century operas by American and international composers. A member of Opera America
Opera America
Opera America, officially OPERA America, is a service organization in North America promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera...
, Encompass was founded in 1975 by Nancy Rhodes who remains the company's Artistic Director. Since its founding, Encompass has produced over 50 fully mounted operas with orchestra as well as staged reading
Staged reading
A staged reading is a form of theatre without sets or full costumes. The actors, who read from scripts, may be seated, stand in fixed positions, or incorporate minimal stage movement....
s of more than 150 new works.
The company's first production was Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
's 1947 opera, The Mother of Us All
The Mother of Us All
The Mother of Us All is an opera by Virgil Thomson to a libretto by Gertrude Stein. It chronicles the life of Susan B. Anthony, one of the major figures in the fight for women's suffrage in the United States...
.
Other past productions have included:
- World premiere of Ricky Ian GordonRicky Ian GordonRicky Ian Gordon is an American composer of songs, stage musicals and opera. The death of his lover from AIDS inspired Dream True and Orpheus and Euridice...
's Only Heaven, set to poems by Langston HughesLangston HughesJames Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
. (1995, reprised 2001) - New York premiere of Grigory FridGrigory FridGrigory Samuilovich Frid also Grigori Fried is a Russian composer of music written in many different genres, including chamber opera.Born in Petrograd, now St. Petersburg, Frid studied in the Moscow Conservatory with Heinrich Litinsky and Vissarion Shebalin. He was a soldier in the Second World War...
's 1969 opera, The Diary of Anne FrankThe Diary of Anne Frank (opera)The Diary of Anne Frank is a monodrama in 21 scenes for soprano and chamber orchestra. The music and libretto are by Grigory Frid, after the eponymous diary....
, set to excerpts from Anne FrankAnne FrankAnnelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...
's diary (2002) - Hans Werner HenzeHans Werner HenzeHans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
's End of a World (an early work originally written as a radio opera) and John HarbisonJohn HarbisonJohn Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
's A Full Moon in March, a setting of the play by William Butler YeatsWilliam Butler YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
(2003) - World premiere of Gertrude Stein Invents a Jump Early On, an opera of based on the life of Gertrude SteinGertrude SteinGertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
composed by William C. Banfield to a librettoLibrettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by the poet Karren LaLonde Alenier (performed with two other operas based on texts by Stein, Virgil Thomson's 1927 Capital Capitals and Ned RoremNed RoremNed Rorem is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings.-Life:...
's 1968 Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters, 2005) - New York premiere of Philip Hagemann's Shaw Sings!, two one-act operas based on the writings of George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
(2008)
In 2009 the company received an "Access to Artistic Excellence" from The National Endowment for the Arts to fund the world premiere production of The Theory of Everything by composer John David Earnest and librettist, Nancy Rhodes. Excerpts from the work in progress were presented at New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
's VOX 2007 Festival.
Encompass has had three music directors in its history, Jack Gaughan (1975-1993), John Yaffé (1993-2008), and Mara Waldman (2008-present).
External links
- Encompass New Opera Theatre official web site
- A Conversation with Nancy Rhodes, Scene4 Magazine, April 2006.