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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 - June 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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Launching our Cabaret Series
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new project
The George Fulginiti Series: Cabaret, Cocktails, & Conversation
On June 23, Alliance for New Music-Theatre will launch its own Cabaret Series, named after our original Music Director, George Fulginiti.
The event will take place at The Arts Club of Washington, DC’s oldest continuing cultural club and not-for profit organization. Then, starting in October, we will host a new Cabaret performance every other month.
Leading off this series, a dangerous duo, singer-actors Daniel Smith and Alan Naylor
You won’t want to miss up-to-date original cabaret songs, some newly minted for our series, and addressing peculiarly DC themes.
We are so proud to be joined by courageous, sometimes outrageous artists.
Limited Seating is available for our launch and first Cabaret on June 23, starting at 3:00 pm
The Arts Club of Washington
2017 I Street N.W.
We have a limited number of tickets available at HERE.
What can you expect in the series and New Music-Theatre’s exploratory foray into this genre? We want you to assist us as we weigh in on the question, “What Is cabaret?” And more particularly, “What makes for an optimal cabaret experience?” We may feature, in the process, culturally international sounds and interpretations and even cross-disciplinary approaches. All bets are on that there will be transgressive themes, adult beverages, and a whole lot of fun when the invited artists break the fourth wall and make their personal statements on this form.
In addition to Daniel and Alan and surprise guests, we will be welcoming in our kick-off season Cuban-born artists Ernesto Lima-Paretz and Leo Herrera, Women-in-Jazz leader Amy K. Bormet, and a Songbird coming off her two-year tour of Tina, the Musical, Ms. Roz White herself (See our Featured Artist this month.) To learn more about the artists and schedule of the cabaret events go to our webpage HERE.
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World Opera Forum & Opera America Conference
We came to the Opera America Conference in LA this week (June 3 -8) to learn all we can about how to move our company forward and network with music-theatre colleagues from around the world.
The conference combines the 2nd ever World Opera Forum with the annual Opera America Conference. The conference includes participants from six continents in discussions and workshops of the strategies needed to guide the sector through today’s dynamic landscape of art, politics, and technology.
The new insights, ideas, and relationships gained will be integrated into our strategic planning efforts in the coming years.
Sheri Jackson, Director of Education &
Community Engagement with Susan Galbraith, Artistic Director in front of the Walt Disney Concert Hall
Susan Galbraith with Marc Scorca, President/CEO Opera America
Sheri has some thoughts on what we have learned so far in the first two days.
The World Opera Forum that wraps today has been an enlightening experience. Hearing the varying perspectives on how works are created, how we can become better cultural citizens, and the passion to fearlessly pursue the art of making beautiful music confirms that we are going in the right direction with our vision and mission. I look forward to continuing our pursuit to change the conversation through the cross-fertilization of ideas with music-theatre as a vehicle.
The future sessions this week include Changes in the Years Ahead, Workshops on Collaborations, Performer Development, Community Engagement, Marketing, Finance and Technology challenges. We plan to take what we learn here and incorporate it into our three-year Strategic Plan that we are currently developing. Stay tuned.
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Alliance planning for our next Season of Projects and Performances
Dear Friends and Supporters of Alliance for New Music-Theatre
As we come to the end of our current Fiscal Year on June 30, in anticipation of celebrating our 30-Year Anniversary in our 2024-2025 season, we are actively planning and developing several projects and premiering new productions of music-theatre.
This July we will conduct our Composer-Librettist Studio at UDC. Read more HERE and plan to join us for the final showcase on July 30.
In September we will perform our new original work at the Atlas Performing Arts Center - Caesar and The Mannequin. Read more HERE.
In October we continue our Cabaret Series at the Arts Club of Washington that we are launching on June 23. Read more HERE.
We are also planning our Fall season of Live & About to a variety of theatres around DC. Read more HERE.
We will continue to develop our Hispanic Youth Chorus - coro de la comunidad. Read More HERE.
During the Fall we will complete our new original work of music-theatre - DC Emancipation and the Right to Vote - and start rehearsals to premiere the work in April 2025 in celebration of DC Emancipation Day. Read more HERE.
All these projects need your support. Your donation in any amount will be most appreciated.
We would be glad to talk with you about the several ways you can help us fulfill our mission.
You can contact us at info@newmusictheatre.org or donate HERE.
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Featured Artist - Alan Naylor
Alan Naylor spearheads the launching of our George Fulginiti Series: Cabaret, Cocktails & Conversation this month at the Arts Club in Washington along with co-company member
Daniel Smith. You may have seen Alan around town, playing Queen Elisabeth in Constellation’s production of Virginia Woolf’s gender-bending adaptation of Orlando or curating & performing in a Creative Cauldron cabaret. Always daring, he is not afraid to take risks and is up to the challenge of finding new ways to tell a story through text and music. He seems born for the world of cabaret.
Susan Galbraith recently discussed what draws him to the form of cabaret. Here are some of his thoughts:
Cabaret is a medium that can be looked at in the micro scale or macro scale – that is individual things and characters of the night or larger issues and stories.
My real love is the Song Cycle, and when I create any kind of program, I’m really going after creating a seamless song cycle where the songs have relationships and interconnections. Cabaret is an avenue for performing artists to express something deeply personal that they don’t necessarily get anywhere else.
Cabaret has come to be thought of very loosely, and standards have therefore become very loose and diffuse. But the form can be something much more true, not so much unvarnished –hopefully there’s some varnish on it! – but where there’s a direct and personal connection to the performer. It may be a story the performer wants to tell or curate an experience to be experienced in an intimate space and immediate way.
The audience plays an important role and creates a unique feeling in the room each night, where suddenly, in the special vibe created, the performer might switch out one song for another. There’s interplay. The fourth wall is broken. The performer can engage audience members directly, go off script (there is none!) Importantly, I want audiences know they can sit back and release themselves from expectations and just let the event wash over them.
In cabaret at its heart, it’s always about building a direct and informal relationshipbetween performer and audience.
I asked Alan what other pastimes he enjoys and what inspires him. He listed delicious food, taking in great visual art, and being out on the water at Annapolis or on the Potomac. He’d also like to attend more music events at places like Blues Alley.
We are excited that Alan will be part of our New Music-Theatre Team Cabaret. As for other collaborations he would enjoy, with the Alliance, he mentioned creating a new work where talented local musicians were also on stage and part of the story telling. He’d also like to see a musical done about the experience of being part of a real, high-level choir, which harkens back to Alan’s early days in Minnesota.
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Our Artists and Partners on View
REMINDER
Company Member - Drew Valins
presents a staged reading of Kafka's final tale of Anxiety in a new adaptation of
"The Burrow"
Tuesday, June 11 at 6:30 pm
Embassy of the Czech Republic
3900 Spring of Freedom St NW, Washington, DC
More information on the Czech Embassy website HERE. Register for the event at: https://ValinsBurrow.eventbrite.com.
Hope you can join us for this riveting performance.
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Evelyn Simpson Curenton
Celebrated Musician and Music Director for our new production of
DC Emancipation and the Right to Vote
is justly awarded!
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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)