Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Triphammer Arts will present a fully staged studio performance of The Classical Style: An Opera (of Sorts), by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Steven Stucky and librettist Jeremy Denk on Sunday October 30 at 7:30pm at the CRS Barn Studio, 2622 North Triphammer Road, Ithaca. A reception will follow the performance.

The Classical Style was Stucky's last large-scale composition before his untimely death in 2016. The opera is inspired by musicologist and pianist Charles Rosen's 1971 book, The Classical Style, and thus follows composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven as they descend from heaven into a 21st century music climate. Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle lauded The Classical Style as an "exuberantly witty and often touching one-act opera." Richard Scheinin of the San Jose Mercury News declared it a "winning little opera" and further described it as "gorgeous to hear, and filled with laughs."

The curtain rises on Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn playing Scrabble (and bickering) in heaven while on Earth below, a I chord, a IV chord, and a V chord discuss their musical and emotional 'relationships.' The great classical masters soon return to earth in search of eminent musicologist Charles Rosen to discover how their music is doing and the state of classical music in the contemporary world.

MacArthur genius awardee Jeremy Denk's brilliant madcap libretto, and Pulitzer winner Steven Stucky's delightfully witty and dramatic score make The Classical Style an opera that celebrates, entertains, and stimulates. The story line and musical references make the opera charming for all audiences, and extra-special for those well versed in the classical style. You'll hear glorious music, laugh a lot, and learn a bit along the way.

The production features well-known Central New York singers from Ithaca, Cortland, Syracuse, Baldwinsville, Marcellus, Liverpool and E. Syracuse. Singers include Julia Ebner, Janet Brown, Danan Tsan, Jonathan Howell, Daniel Fields, Steven Stull, David Neal, Eric Johnson, and Sasha Turner.

The singers perform multiple roles, including: composers Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven; operatic characters Don Giovanni, Donna Anna, and the Commendatore; abstract characters such as the Dominant and the Tonic chord; and musicologist Charles Rosen himself. Heather Buchman conducts the production, working with pianist Sar Shalom Strong, stage director Victoria King, and set designer/artist David Harper. This event is made possible, in part, with funding from the Cornell University Department of Music. This co-production by Triphammer Arts and The The Society for New Music will also be presented in Syracuse on November 10, 2016 with chamber orchestra.

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