Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: The Importance of Being Earnest

Odyssey Opera Orchestra
Gil Rose, conductor

Neal Ferreira…John Worthing (Jack)
Stefan Barner… Algernon Moncrieff
Jeni Houser…Cecily Cardew
Rachele Schmiege…Gwendolen Fairfax
Claudia Waite…Lady Bracknell
James Demler… Rev. Chasuble
Christina English…Miss Prism
J.T. Turner…Lane
Colin Levin…Merriman

Odyssey Opera’s most recent release, The Importance of Being Earnest, adapted from the play by Oscar Wilde, satirizes the mores of Victorian life. Two bachelors, Jack Worthing and Algeronon Moncreiff, create alter egos–both names Ernest–to impress two women who say they can only love a name minted Ernest. Clever dialogue, witty musical commentary and a madcap plot ensues as the two men try to keep up their deception between the toen and the country in the face of a mysterious past and an overbearing aunt.

The CD is available online for purchase or you may contact us at 617-826-1626.

Dominick Argento: Three Works

Odyssey Opera Orchestra
Gil Rose, conductor

Heather Buck…The Widow/Miss Havisham
Aaron Engebreth…The Lecturer
Frank Kelley…The Servant
James Maddalena…The Boor

Odyssey Opera’s second CD release contains three one-act operas by composer Dominick Argento. The Boor retells Anton Chekhov’s play of the same name (sometimes translated as The Bear). Miss Havisham’s Wedding Night explores the titular Charles Dickens character’s madness over being jilted. Argento returns to Chekhov in A Water Bird Talk, following a harried husband’s lecture on birds.

The CD is available online for purchase or you may contact us at 617-826-1626.

Pietro Mascagni: ZANETTO

Odyssey Opera Orchestra
Gil Rose, Conductor

Eleni Calenos…Silvia
Eve Gigliotti…Zanetto

The lonely courtesan Silvia suddenly finds herself falling in love with the young poet and wandering minstrel, Zanetto, who believes her to be a noblewoman. Afraid he will discover her identity, Silvia orders Zanetto away and, alone, blesses lost love for unleashing feelings she believed were gone.

The CD is available online for purchase or you may contact us at 617-826-1626.

Norman Dello Joio: The Trial at Rouen

Odyssey Opera Orchestra with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor

Heather Buck, soprano
Stephen Powell, baritone
Luke Scott, baritone
Ryan Stoll, bass-baritone
Jeremy Ayres Fisher, tenor

2020 GRAMMY® Nominee for Best Opera Recording is Odyssey Opera’s collaboration with Boston Modern Orchestra Project of Norman Dello Joio’s The Trial at Rouen.

In 1950 Boston based Pulitzer Prize winning composer Norman Dello Joio premiered his first opera The Triumph of Saint Joan. Unhappy with the results he withdrew the work. Still fascinated with the subject he was commissioned by the NBC Television Opera Theatre to produce an original 75-minute opera for television. The resulting work in two acts, The Trial at Rouen, premiered on April 8, 1956, on NBC. In collaboration with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Odyssey Opera’s performance marks the first time The Trial at Rouen will be performed off screen and on stage in front of a live audience. The most condensed of all the operas of our season, it focuses on the period of the imprisonment and trial of Joan. The concert will open with Dello Joio’s most popular work The Triumph of Saint Joan Symphony a purely orchestral work based on the material from his first Joan of Arc opera.

The CD is available online for purchase or you may contact us at 781-324-0396.

Gunther Schuller: The Fisherman and His Wife

Odyssey Opera Orchestra with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor

Sondra Kelly, mezzo-soprano
Steven Goldstein, tenor
David Kravitz, baritone
Katrina Galka, soprano

Adapted from fable by the Brothers Grimm, Gunther Schuller’s The Fisherman and His Wife tells the tale of a poor fisherman who discovers a magical fish who grants a series of ever more extravagant rewards to him and his wife. Originally commissioned by the Junior League of Boston for their 60th anniversary and dedicated to the children of Boston, this short opera premiered in May 1970 and was adapted for WBZ-TV that fall. Full of wit and humor, The Fisherman and His Wife was not performed again until BMOP and Odyssey Opera resurrected it in November 2015. This premiere studio recording of the opera adds to the legacy of a pillar of the Boston musical community.

The CD is available online for purchase or you may contact us at 781-324-0396.

Tobias Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Odyssey Opera Orchestra with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Gil Rose, conductor

John Brancy, tenor
Krista River, mezzo-soprano
Andrew Craig Brown, bass-baritone
Edwin Vega, tenor
Gabriel Preisser, baritone
Elizabeth Futral, soprano
Tynan Davis, mezzo-soprano
Theo Lebow, tenor
Andrey Nemzer, countertenor
Gail Novak Mosites, soprano
John Dooley, baritone
Jonathan Blalock, tenor

2020 The Recording Academy / GRAMMY® WINNER for Best Opera Recording is Odyssey Opera’s collaboration with Boston Modern Orchestra Project of Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. Fantastic Mr. Fox, an opera in three acts with a libretto by Donald Sturrock based on Roald Dahl’s children’s novel of the same name. In this enchanting modern fable, Fantastic Mr. Fox pits good vs. evil, animal vs. human, nature vs. technology. Mr. Fox will stop at nothing to keep his family safe.

The CD is available online for purchase or you may contact us at 781-324-0396.