operamission

10/11/2023

‘Cellist Charlie Reed joins baritone MICHAEL WEYANDT for duets and discourse, featuring music spanning the past four and a half centuries. Join the performers for a vivid vocal historical tou…

07/10/2022

07/10/2022

06/22/2019

PDF for June 22 5pm FREE concert on Governors Island, more info at https://operamission.org/2019/06/21/the-tragic-american-archetype/ and here is the ferry schedule: https://govisland.com/visit-the-island/ferry?fbclid=IwAR10J0rgzFjoUeJhQeZkz8EkhL5bX9fA7aWs1Mz-0fluhXT04j3X7H7aWCQ

06/20/2019

Please join us this Saturday! Tenor Kameron Ghanavati is singing a lot of Stravinsky and a little Kurt Weill. If you've never been to Governors Island this is your chance, it's a wonderful outing and lots is going on down there this summer, check it out and bring a friend.

The Little Opera Theater of NY presents Past and Present: Scenes from American Operas, a free outdoor concert in Nolan Park. Three companies will present excerp

06/01/2018

PDF of program for evening performance

05/31/2018

all the files

03/24/2018

Pianist Jennifer Peterson joins both soprano Rebecca Richardson, and mezzo Brittany Fowler in UNBOUND IDENTITIES - a recital project exploring the concept of identify across time and across borders. Jennifer shared some her thoughts on the repertoire, her unlimited musical talents, and her various artistic identities. Saturday, March 24, 3pm at Opera America. Ticket link in comments!

You’re playing quite a variety of music on this recital! How do you mentally switch between styles?

Navigating musical styles might be my favorite thing about making music. The trick with this program is that all the songs were written in the same century, requiring me to dig and be more penetrating and creative in delineating them. For everything I do, I try to put myself into the composer's head. For several of these guys we have a plethora of recordings of them conducting or playing the piano. So these give me clear places to jump when switching from piece to piece. For the pieces based on medieval materials, I find it so enriching and adventuresome to look for clues from the original monk or troubadour, then I can discover how the 20th-century-composer part of the equation interpreted the old music/poetry, or even just what general or emotional impression it made on him. And then my job is to interpret both versions on my own, which I strangely find very direct and straightforward.

What connections to do you see running through the different sets, either musically or thematically?

Like all music, we find the common themes of love and death throughout the program, love expanding into s*x, unrequited love, flirtation, etc., and death expanding into loss, war, devastation, etc., and the theme of isolation possibly growing out of the two. It was fun for us to put together the order of the sets for this program. What we have ended up with is something that has presented these two themes immediately in the Britten, and has ended with the songs (the Ives) that tear the farthest in how humans deal with the two themes. This grouping of songs opens up many questions, but seems to answer them only with music.

You do a little bit of everything! Pianist, harpsichordist, conductor, coach, violinist, and you run Operamission. How do you balance all of these artistic identities?

I don't see them as different—I work like a conductor in terms of finding the cohesion of a piece, set, or program. My brain is drawn to putting things together; I've ended up in music, and opera specifically, because it's one of the most complicated types of "putting things together" a person can do. No two days are the same. I also love working with people one-on-one to discover things in music that I would never notice on my own, and doing a recital program like this is soul-enriching on every level. In terms of the different instruments, they all complement each other. I've had teachers on all sorts of instruments teach me huge concepts that I use every day. I would encourage more musicians to learn more instruments!

What’s up next for you after Unbound Identities?

My website is operamission.org and as I work through Handel's 39 operas in order, I come up with schemes and missions of all types along the way.

11/02/2017

Friday, November 3, 3-6pm, free event in midtown!

ANNOUNCING… an informal piano reading of Massenet’s 1887 opera, Werther Libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet, and Georges Hartmann, based on The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wol…

07/22/2017

operamission is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of operamission must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and…

05/17/2017

Jennifer Peterson and Jordan Rutter We know the songs of William Bolcom as encore pieces at opera recitals. The thought of hearing a b...

05/16/2017

'Behind the Mind' online program

05/15/2017

The Duplex Cabaret Theatre, 61 Christopher Street, at the corner of 7th avenue, Countertenor Jordan Rutter and conductor Jennifer Peterson perform all four volumes of William Bolcom's Cabaret Songs. Enter the universe of William Bolcom's Cabaret Songs, and join us as we explore the

05/15/2017

For just one night, Operamission presents William Bolcolm’s complete “Cabaret Songs” at The Duplex Cabaret Theatre on May 16 at 9:30 p.m. EST. Countertenor Jordan Rutter will sin…

05/15/2017

Ticket link for Tuesday! Purchase in advance for the $5 discount!

Providing complete ticket presale and admission management with tailored solutions for clients ranging from small event promoters to large-scale venues

05/06/2017

The cabaret literature is populated with a long line of eccentric characters, and some of the most memorable ones can be found in William Bolcom’s jaunty collection, including the shady “Black Max,” the flamboyant “George,” and the irresistible charmer known only as “Amor.” The countertenor Jordan R...

04/28/2017

“Behind the Mind” An evening of cabaret featuring the Cabaret Songs of William Bolcom & Arnold Weinstein Jordan Rutter – Countertenor Produced by Opera Mission, Jennifer Peterson, Director