Tuesday, March 31, 2015

'Wading Home, an Opera of New Orleans' Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 7:30 PM, Dallas City Performance Hall, by Composer Mary Alice Rich and Author Rosalyn Story




Mary Alice Rich, Composer
(Painting by Sally Boatwright)

Rosalyn Story

Rosalyn Story - violin
Sphinx Symphony
Scott & Daisy Rzesa, in honor of Ally Juliet Rzesa Chair

Bio

Rosalyn Story is a professional classical violinist, journalist and author of both fiction and non-fiction. A member of the violin section of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in Fort Worth, Texas, she divides her time between performing and writing  magazine and journal articles on the visual and performing arts, and has penned three books. Her articles have appeared in Essence, The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, Stagebill (the magazine of Lincoln Center), The Crisis (the magazine of the NAACP), and she has been a frequent contributor to Opera News magazine, writing about black opera singers, since 1990. Her first book, And So I Sing: African American Divas of Opera and Concert, the first comprehensive book on the history of black women in opera, was the inspiration for the PBS documentary Aida’s Brothers and Sisters: Black Voices in Opera (in which she appears as commentator and served as consultant), and has been broadcast in the United States, Europe, and New Zealand. Her first novel, More Than You Know, set against the backdrop of the jazz worlds of Kansas City and New York, was an Essence magazine bestseller, and has been developed into a screenplay. Her second novel, Wading Home, set in post-Katrina New Orleans, was released in September 2010, and was an Essence magazine book club pick and ‘recommended read.’ Wading Home was also a 2011 nominee for the Hurston Wright Foundation Legacy Award. A native of Kansas City, Rosalyn Story now lives in Dallas, Texas. Formerly a member of the Kansas City and Tulsa Philharmonic orchestras, she has played in the violin section of the Fort Worth Symphony for 22 years. 

Wading Home: An Opera of New Orleans

Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 7:30 PM
Dallas City Performance Hall
2520 Flora Street
Dallas, Texas

ArtAndSeek.org


To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans and South Louisiana, Dallas composer Mary Alice Rich and author Rosalyn Story will premiere the opera, Wading Home, an Opera of New Orleans, based on Story’s 2010 book, Wading Home, a novel of New Orleans. This two-act opera will be presented in a staged workshop format with internationally known baritone Donnie Ray Albert, outstanding regional vocalists and an instrumental ensemble and chorus, on Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. in the Dallas City Performance Hall, 2520 Flora Street, Dallas, TX, 75201 in the Dallas Arts District. The free performance requires no tickets or reservations, and is open to the public. 


The opera Wading Home tells the fictional story of a family’s struggle to reconnect and recover after the flood which nearly destroyed New Orleans in 2005. Produced in partnership with Dallas-based The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL), this opera premiere is made possible through an MPower grant from the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit, Michigan-based non-profit that promotes diversity in the arts through support of African-American and Latino musicians. Ms. Story’s $40,000 award was the largest single grant given in the highly competitive selection process.


The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, Inc.


Donation - Pay What You Can (benefiting The Roots of Music after-school program in New Orleans and the Bruce Foote Scholarship Foundation in Dallas)


Comments by email:
1) Mr. Zick,  Thank you for your article!  We appreciate it...  Best to you, Mary Alice Rich  [Mary Alice Rich]

2) With a few more days advance notice i definitely would attend this opera especially to support Donnie Ray Albert.  John Malveaux

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