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A DC-BASED COMPANY, and at our core:
DEVELOPING AND PRODUCING ORIGINAL WORKS OF MUSIC-THEATRE,
FOSTERING THE GROWTH OF ARTISTS,
AND ENGAGING WITH THE COMMUNITY IN PARTNERSHIP
Changing the Conversation Through the Arts
Our Monthly Newsletter - December 2024
What’s Ahead for Alliance for New Music-Theatre in our 2024 -25 Season?
We are stepping up our activities this season in anticipation of celebrating in 2024-25 season our 30-Year Anniversary of our humble beginnings as a workshop for local artists to advance their collaborative capacities to experiment in the many art forms of music-theatre.
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Hidden Gems: A Mosaic of Italian Art, Words, and Songs
Join us for a special program that complements the stunning visuals of the current exhibition - Mosaico- at Dupont Underground with our own concurrent exploration of Italian history and culture through word and song. Partnering with friends from Bel Canto in Tuscany for this rich opportunity, we are offering a collection of Italian hidden musical and literary gems, designed to complement the varied themes presented in the exhibition.
Join us on Wednesday, Dec 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for our music program are available HERE.
Lesser-known treasures by Respighi, Tosti, Pizzetti, and more, are uncovered and put on display in original Italian by mezzo-soprano Cara Schaefer and soprano Victoria Cannizzo with renowned international conductor, pianist, and opera educator Giovanni Reggioli at the piano. Woven throughout the musical exploration, New Music-Theatre’s Susan Galbraith offers English interpretations of works by great Italian poets from across the region, in an ode to its land and culture and transcendent values of love and beauty, expressed through the incomparable imagery of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and D’Annunzio. In this multi-sensory environment, the audience is transported to another time and place, immersed in sights, sounds, words, and feelings that are uniquely Italian and simultaneously universal.
Sponsored by the Italian Embassy, the Mosaico exhibition is a cultural and artistic exploration of the territory through some of Italy’s most beautiful mosaic icons: a set of fragments assembled and coordinated in a visual and audio story-telling language and through different media that offers a novel narrative journey with a deeply educational and inclusive core, unprecedented and contemporary film images, and high-tech installations where visitors will acquire the necessary tools to learn about precious fragments and gain an understanding of the ancient art of mosaic art. In this multi-sensory environment, the audience is transported to another time and place, immersed in sights, sounds, words, and feelings that are uniquely Italian and simultaneously universal. AND - join us on Dec 11 for a special evening of Italian classical songs specifically selected for this exhibit. Tickets for either evening of our music program are available HERE.
The Mosaico exhibition is open to visitors Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 11am -5 pm through January. Come often to enjoy this exclusive "must see" exhibition. and re-immerse yourselves in the magical world of Italian mosaics in the mysterious, historic Dupont Underground, DC’s hippest cultural spot.
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While you are here, enjoy The Dupont Holiday Market on 19th Street, NW – just north of Dupont Circle – from noon to 8 p.m. through December 15th.The DC Holiday Market will feature artisans, boutique brands, international handcrafts, and unique gift items. The market brings its signature style, local performers, festive décor, and the coveted holiday treats of Migue’s Mini Donuts and the Capital Candy Jar’s hot roasted nuts to an iconic location adjacent to Dupont Circle and renown Kramer’s Books & Afterwords.
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Opening of the George Fulginiti Cabaret Series:
Cabaret, Cocktails, & Conversation
at the Arts Club of Washington
On December 3, we kicked off our partnership with the Arts Club of Washington, opening our cabaret series with the fabulous Roz White, who created and headlined a program “First Take: Roberta Flack at Mr. Henry’s.” The evening represented Roz’s first take on Roberta’s first takes of early songs tried out in the late 1960’s at DC’s favorite Capitol Hill bar before leaping to fame as the iconic songstress and national treasure she became.
Alliance for New Music -Theatre is known for bringing audiences along on the journey of creating a new work, and the evening was no exception. Under Roz’s skillful talent as a storyteller through song, she wove some of Roberta’s life story between numbers, especially her activism and her ability to speak truth to power in difficult times. In the song “Compared to what,” Roberta stuck it to then President Nixon in the heat of the Viet Nam War. Resonances and the call to activism were unmistakable. The cabaret thus highlighted our company’s overall purpose in this series of speaking to issues and ‘the times’ we are living in the Nation’s Capital.
The performance hall at the Arts Club has the perfect size and vibe for an intimate experience with exceptional artists, and the place was pretty well packed. The Arts Club made good on its offering of a signature cocktail. This one, “Killing Me Softly,” was delicious.
Roz’s creative team of Writer Steven A. Butler Jr. and Director Courtney Baker Oliver were on hand to witness this beginning and share in conversation with the audience. The conversation shows how we want to extend and deepen the experience of the audience every time.
Line-Up of our Cabaret Series at the Arts Club of Washington
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Tuesday, February 11 - Greg Watkins “A Valentine Tribute to Nat King Cole"
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Tuesday, May 6 - Amy Bormet “Amy Bormet’s Cabaret of Love & Longing”
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Tuesday, June 3 - Daniel Smith “Unmasked: Freedom in Full Color”
Shows start at 7p.m. Bar with Signature Cocktail opens at 6:30 p.m.
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Featured Artist - Andre Leonard
Andre Leonard first came to the attention of Alliance for New Music-Theatre through Conductor Angel Gil-Ordoñez and served as vocal coach and accompanist for the second showcase of our opera-in-development On the Road to Arivaca. It was a beautiful experience all around.
We began brainstorming to collaborate on other projects, and Andre soon became an indispensable mentor to some of our coro de la comunidad (Youth Chorus) members.
Andre is a world-class pianist, composer, and conductor. He has been Resident Artist at the Kennedy Center and Director of the CAAPA Chorale.
We have recently chosen one of Andre’s projects to kick off the Winter-Spring Season 2025 for our January Live & About outing. This will take place on January 11 at the historic landmark Howard Theatre, next to DC’s U Street corridor.
Una In Perpetuum (Latin for “One, Forever,”) will feature a dynamic mix of live and recorded sound in performance Andre will conduct the debut of his symphonic overture composed for piano, strings, and drums with a twenty-piece chamber orchestra and featuring DC’s Hue Band. HUE, the rising DC rock band spotlighted in Rolling Stone after their mind-blowing performance at Afropunk Blktopia 2024, will bring their unique fusion of Rock, go-go, R&B, and pop-punk. The evening will also highlight the genre-defying artistry of Heru the Trap Violinist, a Howard University graduate breaking barriers with his classical-meets-hip-hop violin style.
Una In Perpetuum promises to be a groundbreaking celebration of unity through music and an unforgettable evening of healing, unity, and hope when it’s needed now more than ever. It also suggests for our Live & About group a wild ride and an immersive musical experience like no other. Will we find embedded seeds of music-theater?
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Live & About Winter/Spring Season 2025
Join our Live & About Subscription Series where we take you along to different theaters representing large and small companies approximately once a month, introducing you to different expressions across the spectrum of music-theater. Enjoy seeing shows with friends, followed by conversation delving into the artists’ intentions, learning from others in the group about different perspectives, and sharpening our critical appreciation of different of this most hybrid of performance forms.
By joining in this series, you support companies across the DMV, save money by getting in on a group discount, and make new friends to expand your minds and appetite for new and different voices and genres in our culturally rich and diverse community.
Weeknight and weekend matinees are, in most months, options.
For this upcoming season, we are focusing on different venues, and some may surprise you. How does the space affect the experience? And how does the space expand and enhance what we may call music-theater?
Learn more about the subscription aeries and rates for this season. Email us at info@newmusictheatre.org
Winter/Spring Season Outings
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January 11 - Andre Leonard performs his original works and other music with local artists and orchestra across different genres at The Howard Theater, an iconic setting in DC’s Historic Black Broadway (U Street) Corridor. (One night only.)
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February 11 - Greg Watkins brings his own Cabaret to the Arts Club of Washington in A special Valentine Tribute to Nat King Cole. Arts Club will provide a featured cocktail and light buffet ,ensuring this will be a terrific Valentine party to dispel the winter blahs, (One night only)
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March - Come see Synetic Theatre in a new venue for this company as it takes on the era of classic silent film in its trademark blend of voiceless movement-music theater in The Immigrant.
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April - New Music-Theatre will share its tribute to the history of Back Georgetown and the leaders who made possible the early DC Emancipation & The Right to Vote (Venue TBA) in an original work of music-theatre by company member Ronald ‘Trey’ Walton
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May - Washington National Opera presents a new work by composer Mason Bates and Librettist Mark Campbell (also advisor to our company ), The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. Come with us on this operatic journey through the interior workings and spiritual journey of an innovator.
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June - Signature Theatre offer us a return trip to Arlington’s anchor cultural destination and another biographically-inspired work , this month a musical in The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter Thompson Musical.
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Composer-Librettist Studio
The dates for the 2025 Composer Librettist Studio are June 7-22. The Studio will once again take place on the UDC campus hosted by the Music Department.
The 2025 studio will be co-led by Artistic Director Susan Galbraith and Music Director Sonja Thompson. The Studio will continue in the spirit of Ben Krywosz, who developed and led such studios across the country, with an emphasis on the art and best practices of collaboration.
Applications for professional Composers, librettists, and singers will be available on-line starting January 1, 2025.
Decision will be made by April 2025 with invitations going out to five composers, five librettists, and five singers. All artists receive a stipend but must make their own travel and accommodation plans. Please note this is a full-time commitment, with no exceptions for the good of the whole group.
For more information, go to Composer-Librettist Studio | New Music-Theatre
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As a small not-for-profit 501(c)3 public charity organization, Alliance for New Music-Theatre’s mission is to:
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Nurture the creation, development and production of new works of music-theatre
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Foster the development of professional and young artists
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Engage audiences in the creative process to promote a deeper understanding and critical appreciation of the transformative power of music-theatre.
We need your support to continue to fulfill our mission. There are many opportunities to provide support at various levels by supporting an artist, a production, or general support.
The Donate page on our website has information about ways to contribute. Donate | New Music-Theatre (newmusictheatre.org)