The Center for Contemporary Opera

Prima le Parole (First the Words)

directed by Amy Leland; hosted by Carlin Glynn

The Center for Contemporary Opera presents the Prima le Parole series to give lovers of opera and literature a first glimpse of exciting new works and their writers a first hearing of their text.  This 90-minute presentation offers readings from two new operas, Oh, Egypt and The Human Zoo.

The evening will be moderated by Carlin Glynn, co-Artistic Director of The Actor's Studio while Amy Leland will direct.

Oh, Egypt.  Eugene Rotberg, libretto; Mohammad Fairouz, composer.

Oh, Egypt tells the story of the Egyptian revolution overthrowing Hosni Mubarak during the period of the winter of 2011. The details of the uprising are well known and the libretto is a faithful representation of the events that took place during those historic two months.

Eugene Rotberg, librettist, held the position of vice president and treasurer of the World Bank from 1968 to 1987. He currently serves on  various international and domestic corporate and advisory boards and non-profit institutions. He serves as a trustee of the National Public Radio (NPR) Foundation where he serves on its Finance and Investment Committees. As such, he recently was designated by Institutional Investor magazine as one of the 40 most influential persons in finance over the last 40 years.

Straddling Eastern and Western idioms, Mohammed Fairouz, one of the most frequently performed composers of his generation, has emerged as a force on the musical scene. Praised by the New York Times as "warmly sympathetic" and "brilliantly handled," his music has been received at  venues such as Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center and internationally throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

The Human Zoo, Mark N. Grant, Composer and Librettist

The Human Zoo takes place in New York City during the early 1840s and is about a group of human oddities that are not in fact real human oddities but are exhibited as if they were. The Zoo is the brainchild of two rival museum owners desperate for revenge against P. T. Barnum, whose American Museum has ruined their reputations and finances. But as the Human Zoo overtakes Barnum in popularity and its characters strut their acts from their cages in front of the public, it becomes increasingly mysterious as to whether the Human Zoo oddities are fake or for real.

Mark N. Grant, librettist and composer of The Human Zoo, won a special Friedheim Award in 2006 for his cantata The Rose of Tralee for which he was also his own librettist. A CD of his vocal and chamber music will appear on Albany Records in spring 2012. He is also the author of two widely acclaimed books, Maestros of the Pen: A History of Classical Music Criticism in America (1998) and The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical (2004); both won ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards. 

Carlin Glynn, Moderator, is the co-Artistic Director of The Actor's Studio. She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1982 (1981 season) for her role in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and won Broadway's 1979 Tony Award as Best Actress (Featured Role - Musical) for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Carlin was the original "Miss Mona" on Broadway in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, in a production co-directed by her husband Peter Masterson and dancer Tommy Tune which won the Tony and Theatre World awards.

Amy Leland, Director, credits include The Lover, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Masterpieces, Cloud Nine, West Side Story, The Normal Heart, and As Is. Original plays include The Butcher of Plainfield, A Life With Ike, and A Thousand Wednesdays, all by Steve Nicholas; Valentino's Wing by Mark Borkowski; and Winged Victoria by Tiffany Hodges. She is also one of the editors for Bravo TV's Inside the Actors Studio. Amy is the founder of Summer Woman Productions, a production company dedicated to bringing the works of new writers to life through film, theater production and music video.