With the New York Opera Fest 2018 officially underway, OperaWire will be showcasing small previews for each major participant at the festival, as we did during last year’s event. However, we are doing things a bit differently this year and giving the floor directly to each company to speak to you, the reader, directly. Enjoy!

Maybe you’ve had your fill of opera and just want to hear music. Well, the American Opera Projects has just the showcase for you. Check it out.

American Opera Projects

May 19 & 20 – American Opera Projects presents “First Glimpse 2018: Songs From the Great Room:” Great Room, South Oxford Space, 138 South Oxford St, Brooklyn

Tell us a bit about your company in general and what you’re all about!

Currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, American Opera Projects (AOP) is at the forefront of the contemporary opera movement through its commissioning, developing, and producing of opera and music theatre projects, training programs for student and emerging composers and librettists, and community engagement.

Tell us a bit about your production(s) and why you’re excited about them!

American Opera Projects’ training program Composers & the Voice (C&V) has been the breeding ground for a collection of today’s hottest composers including Gregory Spears, Jack Perla, Hannah Lash, Mikael Karlsson, and many, many more. “First Glimpse 2018: Songs From the Great Room” is an evening of world premiere songs from the latest group of incredible emerging composers & librettists who were given C&V fellowships to learn the art of writing opera and for the operatic voice. The fellows worked directly with professional opera singers over the past seven months in Brooklyn. SONGS FROM THE GREAT ROOM will feature performances by those singers, who had the songs written especially for them.

Tell us why you’re excited about this year’s New York Opera Festival!

Every year the festival shows how vibrant the New York opera community is. There is no other city that has as much opera going on and presented in such innovative ways.

What do you feel is the biggest challenge small opera companies face?

Funding. Always funding. The artists and creativity are all there waiting for the opportunity to be presented.