OTM draws strongly on a team of locally-based performers and musicians; as well as a growing group of community volunteers who provide professional level support across many other vital areas from set and costume design, staging, graphic design, through to sales and marketing. The company has set out with the goal of producing fully-staged opera seasons in the heart of Montclair and is achieving that
objective thanks to the generous donations of its supporters.
Opera Theatre of Montclair (OTM), a leading community opera company in the
Greater New York area, is delighted to announce that it will present full-length, fully staged and costumed performances of the George Frideric Handel classic ACIS AND GALATEA in September 2016. The story is based on an Ovid myth of a nymph who loves a shepherd and the jealous cyclops who breaks them up. Handel wrote it in 1717, when he was composer in residence for the Earl of Carnarvon (whom “Downton Abbey” lovers might know as the lord of Highclere Castle, where the PBS show is set).
The opera will be sung in English and performed in the round with chamber
orchestra. Performances will take place at Redeemer Montclair, 19 North Willow Street, Montclair, NJ, on Thursday, September 8, Friday, September 9, and Saturday,The production is double cast with upcoming young artists and highlyexperienced international-level singers. Key cast members include:
• Sopranos Barbee Monk and Patricia Vital;
• Tenors Benjamin Boskoff, James Haughom and Paul Nicosia; and
• Bass Kevin Barbone and bass-baritone Mark Watson.
Stage design is by Joyce Korotkin with costumes by Teresa Giardina with special
mask designs by Elizabeth Seaton. June Chin will serve as choreographer with dancers from the William Paterson University Dance Program.
This opera production follows last February?s successful run of Mozart?s THE
ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO. The Montclair Times listed OTM?s 2015
production of Verdi?s NABUCCO as the #1 local arts event of 2015.
The Star-Ledger claimed "its launch has been nothing if not ambitious". OTM spent much of the rest of 2015 and 2016 touring its family-friendly version of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE to schools, libraries and senior centers.
ABOUT OTM:
OTM was established in 2012 as a brand new concept in community opera and
classical music. Established by Mia Riker-Norrie, a renowned soprano in her own right and long-time Montclair resident, the company set out with a mission to bring professionally-produced opera to a local audience. As such, it aims to serve both the many existing devotees of the art form in and around Montclair and Northern New Jersey, as well as to inspire a newfound love of opera in local people of all generations.
OTM draws strongly on a team of locally-based performers and musicians; as
well as a growing group of community volunteers who provide professional level
support across many other vital areas from set and costume design, staging, graphic design, through to sales and marketing. The company has set out with the goal of producing fully-staged opera seasons in the heart of Montclair and is achieving that objective thanks to the generous donations of its supporters.
OTM's focus is to provide opera at a highly professional level but in a far more
intimate setting than most fans are familiar with - and with an ensemble of which many hail from the local community.
About NABUCCO, The Montclair Times said, "The singers' power, up close, is
overwhelming. It's like seeing a dancer in street clothes do a pirouette. Your jaw
drops."
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Tickets are available through Eventbrite. If you prefer, tickets may be ordered by
regular mail. Send your check to Opera Theatre of Montclair, 32 Cloverhill Place,
Montclair, NJ 07042. Please include an email address for confirmation purposes.
Tickets are $40 (general admission) and $30 (senior citizens). Student rush tickets are available at the door only for $20.
For more information, visit www.operamontclair.org or visit Opera Theatre of
Montclair on Facebook. For additional questions or to make a tax-deductible
contribution, contact Mia Riker-Norrie at operamontclair@gmail.com or 973-202-7849.
September 10, 8 PM, and Saturday, September 10, 2 PM.
OTM?s ACIS AND GALATEA will be conducted by Dr. Robert Butts, a Baroque
specialist and musicologist who has served on the faculties of Montclair State
University, Drew University, The College of St. Elizabeth and Fairleigh Dickinson
University. It will be stage directed by Nicholas Tamagna, a countertenor and Baroque specialist with a busy international career.
