Press Release
For Immediate Release:
December 9, 2005
NEC Opera Theater Presents There Once Was a Girl Named Jenny: Music of Kurt Weill, January 30 and 31, in NEC’s Jordan Hall
John Greer, Head of Opera Studies, is Arranger and Music Director
Building on the success of last year’s hugely popular Noël Coward evening, A Talent to Amuse, New England Conservatory’s Opera Theater will present show music by Kurt Weill in an evening long revue, There Once Was a Girl Named Jenny,” January 30 and 31 at 8 p.m. in NEC’s Jordan Hall.
Like the Coward revue, the Weill songs have been selected and arranged by John Greer, director and chair of Opera Studies. Marc Astafan will stage direct.
A reworking of a program Greer did in 1994 when he was music director of the Eastman Opera Theater, the show features a chamber sized instrumental ensemble of two pianos and percussion. Greer will serve as music director and one of the two pianists. Jean Anderson Collier is the other pianist. (Percussionist is tba.)
The Weill songs of hope, progress, and disillusionment include such familiar favorites as My Ship and Surabaya Johnny plus less well-known pieces like Tough Nut and Life, Love, and Laughter. Originally, these numbers were sung by the several Jennys (and other characters) in Weill’s stage works from Three-Penny Opera to One Touch of Venus to Down in the Valley.
The revue will feature 12 NEC opera students: Sopranos Jennifer Rizzo, Katherine Taylor, Elizabeth Robinson, Molly Crookedacre; mezzos Sarah Powell, Sarah Austin, and Tracy Reynolds; tenors Duke Rausavljevich, Sean Malkus, Laurent Martin; baritone Matt Wight; and bass Cole Grissom.
The concerts are free and open to the public.
For more information, call the NEC Concert Line at (617) 585-1122 or visit NEC on the web at www.newenglandconservatory.edu/concerts
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader among music schools, New England Conservatory offers rigorous training in an intimate, nurturing community to 750 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral music students from around the world. Its faculty of 225 boasts internationally esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. Its alumni go on to fill orchestra chairs, concert hall stages, jazz clubs, recording studios, and arts management positions worldwide. Nearly half of the Boston Symphony Orchestra is composed of NEC trained musicians and faculty.
The oldest independent school of music in the United States, NEC was founded in 1867 by Eben Tourjee. Its curriculum is remarkable for its wide range of styles and traditions. On the college level, it features training in classical, jazz, Contemporary Improvisation, world and early music. Through its Preparatory School, School of Continuing Education, and Community Collaboration Programs, it provides training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, adults, and seniors. Through its outreach projects, it allows young musicians to engage with non-traditional audiences in schools, hospitals, and nursing homes—thereby bringing pleasure to new listeners and enlarging the universe for classical music and jazz.
NEC presents more than 600 free concerts each year, many of them in Jordan Hall, its world- renowned, 100-year old, beautifully restored concert hall. These programs range from solo recitals to chamber music to orchestral programs to jazz and opera scenes. Every year, NEC’s opera studies department also presents two fully staged opera productions at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston.
NEC is co-founder and educational partner of “From the Top,” a weekly radio program that celebrates outstanding young classical musicians from the entire country. With its broadcast home in Jordan Hall, the show is now carried by more than two hundred stations throughout the United States.
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