Sheila Anderson
Terrance McKnight
Deborah Voigt
Jazz and opera join hands in Bending Towards the
it is an exciting and moving holiday experience for the
entire family. Hosting this year’s Jazz Nativity, which
founded by Stuyvesant Town resident Lynne Hayden-Findlay) and the jazz producing company Kindred
Anderson of WBGO. Singing the title song at the
Metropolitan Opera. Performances are on Sunday,
December 20th at 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm at Christ and
St. Stephen’s Church (120 West 69th Street, between
$40 in advance/$50 at the door, General admission:
$35 in advance/$45 at the door, Seniors general
admission: $25 in advance/$30 at the door, students/
children (any section): $25 in advance/$30 at the
door. Visit http://www.chelseaopera.org/events.html
for more information or call 212-260-1796.
Though Bending Towards the Light...a Jazz Nativity is
performed annually in cities around the country it has
not been seen in NYC for three years. The show was
not been seen in NYC for three years. The show was
originally hosted by the late Charles Kuralt. With
additional music and lyrics by Dave and Iola Brubeck,
Bob Kindred, Henry Timm, the production is under
the direction of Beth Ann Kennedy. In years past,
many of the jazz world’s greatest have appeared in
the show including Dave Brubeck, Tito Puente, Lionel
Hampton, Clark Terry, Al Grey, Jon Faddis, Phil Woods,
Jon Hendricks, Paquito D'Rivera, Houston Person,
Stanley Turrentine, the tap-dancing Kings, Honey
Coles, Harold Nicholas and Jimmy Slyde and,
appearing in it again for his 25th year, 93 year old
Latin conga great, Candido.
Of past renditions, the critics have said:
By the end of “The Jazz Nativity”
you know you’ve been through
something wonderful...a stirring
celebration of Christmas! - Dr.
Billy Taylor, CBS Sunday
Morning
Brilliant, infectious music roars
from an all-star band...a spell-
binding production! -
New York Amsterdam News
The memory of this extraordinary
performance will keep Christmas in
your heart forever! - Alison Steele,
City Guide New York
Anne Phillips’ career has covered almost every area of
the music business. In addition to recording several
solo albums, from the classic Born To Be Blue, to her
most recent release, Ballet Time on which she sings
with such old friends as Dave Brubeck and Marian
McPartland, she has worked as a singer, choral
arranger and conductor with many of the music
world's leading artists and is widely known in the
industry as the writer/arranger/producer of many
national commercials. Through her not-for-profit organization, Kindred Spirits, her Children’s
Jazz Choirs have been instrumental in introducing
inner-city children to the Great American Songbook.
In the classical arena, Ms. Phillips’ ten-minute opera
Tempo Fuori del Tempo was presented at Weill Recital
Hall as a part of an evening of Opera Shorts, another
short opera Plots was performed last December at
Opera America in a concert by the opera company
Aviva Players and her Easter Cantata, Sing, For The
Lord Has Risen, was presented in concert by the
Remarkable Theater Brigade at Jan Hus Church. Her
song cycle An Alaskan Trilogy, a setting of three
poems by Alaskan poet, Phoebe Newman, was
performed at the CUNY Graduate Center in
collaboration with the National Association of
Teachers of Singing. More of her songs were
recorded by soprano Monica Harte on the classical
label MSR Records. Several of her compositions
were featured by Chelsea Opera on a song concert,
Musical Portraits, in 2014. This year she received a
grant from the New York Women Composers and
produced a concert with Aviva Players entitled
That ‘Certain Age’, short operas about aging with
grace and humor.
Chelsea Opera is a professional company presenting
fully staged operas with chamber orchestra. The
company provides a nationally recognized venue for
professional singers to advance their careers while
making opera affordable and accessible to a broad
spectrum of the community. The fine acoustics of
the space provide excellent hearing, and its
intimacy allows the audience to feel involved in the
opera’s story. Of Chelsea Opera’s sustainability,
Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times noted
in June 2009: “With American opera companies
large and small struggling financially and a few
going under, [Chelsea Opera is] a patch of
encouraging news…” Following its production of
Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land last year
celebrating the opera’s 60th anniversary, writer
Jon Sobel declared that Chelsea Opera “certainly
ranks as one of the country’s preeminent ‘small’
opera companies.”
Formed in 2004 by singers, Lynne Hayden-
Findlay and Leonarda Priore, Chelsea Opera was
launched with an all-volunteer production of Suor
Angelica. Initially, Ms. Priore and Ms. Hayden-
Findlay had only intended to produce this one
opera. However, artist and audience response
was so compelling that they agreed to move
forward, incorporating the company and
obtaining their IRS non-profit designation in a
record eight days. They have since produced
an extensive range of standard repertory and
contemporary operas, garnering critical acclaim
at each outing. Despite its size, Chelsea Opera
is the recipient of two grants from the National
Endowment for the Arts-Artworks program,
most recently for its recent production of Tom
Cipullo’s Glory Denied.
Chelsea Opera has received funding from The
Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, The Tow
Foundation, The Amphion Foundation, the H.O.
Peet Foundation, the NYU Community Fund, the
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs,
the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA),
and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
In-kind support has been provided by JetBlue
Airways, the official airline of Chelsea Opera.
For further information, visit
www.ChelseaOpera.org or write to
ChelseaOpera@aol.com.
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