Family Opera Initiative (FOI) is an American

opera company Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a lib ...

based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

that commissions, develops, and premieres original works for cross-generational audiences. It was founded in 1995 by Grethe Barrett Holby, originally as part of American Opera Projects (also founded by Holby). Its mission was and remains to create new repertory for family audiences, to bring the experience of opera to a diverse audience, and to engage the community in the process and performance of their works.Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (May 2007) Since its founding, Family Opera Initiative has developed a series of "opera-musicals" for family audiences: ''Flurry Tale'' (1999), ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' (2001), ''Fireworks!'' (2002), and ''Animal Tales'' (2008). Past and present collaborators on their productions include Billy Aronson,

George Plimpton George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 – September 25, 2003) was an American writer. He is known for his sports writing and for helping to found ''The Paris Review'', as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. He was known for " participat ...

, Kitty Brazelton,

Rusty Magee Benjamin Rush "Rusty" Magee (August 6, 1955 – February 16, 2003) was an American comedian, actor and composer/lyricist for theatre, television, film and commercials. Biography Early life Magee was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Dr. ...

, Franco Colavecchia,

Richard Peaslee Richard Peaslee (June 13, 1930, New York NY – August 20, 2016) was a composer who worked in a variety of idioms, including chorus, orchestra, dance, and soundtracks for film and television, but he was most active as a composer for the theatre. Ed ...

, and

Eugenio Carmi Eugenio Carmi (17 February 1920 – 16 February 2016) was an Italian painter and sculptor. He is considered to have been one of the main exponents of abstractionism in Italy. Biography Born in Genoa, Italy, in 1938 Carmi moved to Switzerland b ...

. The company performs around the United States in partnership with other theaters, theater companies, and public or educational institutions. Their performances range from workshops to fully staged productions. Family Opera Initiative is a non-profit organization. Its commissions and productions have been supported by the Jaffe Family Foundation, the

New York State Council for the Arts The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) serves to foster and advance the arts, culture, and creativity throughout New York State, according to its website. The goal of the council is to allow all New Yorkers to benefit from the contribution ...

, and TADA! Youth Theater. Their development partners include the

Atlantic Center for the Arts Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA) is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary artists' community and education facility located in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. The complex was designed by the Boston-based firm Thompson and Rose Architects. Atlantic Center ...

, Ardea Arts, and

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public un ...

Production history

''Flurry Tale''

''Flurry Tale'' had its premiere in December 1999 at the Clark Studio Theater in New York City's

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

, and has been presented at many workshops at the American Opera Projects South Oxford Space, New York area schools, and the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

. ''Flurry Tale'' is a one-act opera-musical composed by

to a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

by Billy Aronson and was originated, developed and directed by Grethe Barrett Holby. It is scored for piano, two male voices (

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

and

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

) and three female voices (2

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

s, 1

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

) The comic plot revolves around a young girl, Emma, and her harried father who proclaims his disbelief in Santa Claus and talking snowmen. A group of familiar holiday figures set out to prove that they really exist. The holiday figures squabble amongst themselves while plotting the downfall of Emma's father until she reminds them all of the spirit of the season.

''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''

''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' had its stage premiere in New York City in October 2001, presented by American Opera Projects and TADA! Youth Theater, with Anthony Pulgram as Sir Gawain It has since played in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

. The 70 minute, one-act work was composed by

to a libretto by Kenneth Cavander. The direction and dramaturgy are by Grethe Barrett Holby. . The work is scored for three male voices (tenor,

bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three ...

, and bass) and one female voice (mezzo-soprano). The story is based on the Arthurian legend of

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English alliterative verse. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot comb ...

''Fireworks!''

''Fireworks'' premiered in an outdoor performance in

Fort Greene Park Fort Greene Park is a city-owned and -operated park in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The park was originally named after the fort formerly located there, Fort Putnam, itself was named for Rufus Putnam, George Washington's chief of engineers in t ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

on July 2, 2002, produced by American Opera Projects. A comic "opera-musical", it was composed by Kitty Brazelton to a libretto by Billy Aronson, originated and directed by Grethe Barrett Holby. The full orchestra version is scored for violin, electric guitar, cello, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, alto and baritone saxophone,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, and

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

. The work is cast for a chorus and six solo voices: *Intergalactic Toqueville (soprano) *High school nerd (baritone) *Pompous actor (tenor) *Single mother (

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

) *Her rebellious daughter (mezzo-soprano) *Park groundskeeper (bass) The story involves a benevolent alien (Intergalactic Toqueville) who travels to Earth to find out why humans shoot "colored lights" into the sky at the same time each year. In the course of her investigations, she encounters a series of characters gathered in a park to watch the

4th of July Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

fireworks – a

nerd A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly t ...

y high school student, a rebellious teenage girl, her single working mother, a pompous actor who's preparing for the

July 4th Events Pre-1600 * 362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans. * 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclai ...

play, and a groundskeeper, who wishes people would take more pride in their park. The alien is won over to the idea of democracy and vows to take the message to the rest of the universe.

''Animal Tales''

Act I of ''Animal Tales'' was first performed in a workshop for the

in January 2005. Act II had its first performance in a workshop for the

Peak Performances Series in July 2006. The work was first performed in its entirety in Theater Works USA workshops at the Chelsea Studios on November 11, 12, 13, 14, and 16, 2008. ''Animal Tales'' is a full length musical-opera in two acts composed by Kitty Brazelton to a libretto by

, originated and directed Grethe Barrett Holby. The score integrates American musical idioms into classical structures, using classically trained, R&B and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

vocal styles as well as DJ turntable, and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. The full premiere version orchestra uses 1 pianist, 1 Latin percussionist/hand drummer, 1 DJ, 5

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

players, 1 plucked string player (doubling on

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

), 4 wind instrumentalists (

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

, and

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

) and 2 brass players (trumpet and trombone). The touring version of the orchestra consists of DJ, Piano, and Latin Percussion. The cast has a children's chorus plus six male voices (

boy soprano A boy soprano (British and especially North American English) or boy treble (only British English) is a young male singer with a voice in the soprano range, a range that is often still called the treble voice range (in North America too) no m ...

, tenor, bass-baritone, bass, and 2 baritones) and two female voices (soprano and mezzo-soprano) The story revolves around seven animals who go to their

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...

with the desire to change their lives. Each animal is granted their wish. Following a large storm, the animals return one by one, to recount their adventures, supplemented with dancing and exclamations from the chorus. The animals include a

break dancing Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consists mainly o ...

turtle, a horse who wants to be a 'rider', a dog who wants to howl like a wolf, and a goldfish who wants to swim in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

Works in development

As of 2009, ''The Three Astronauts'' is a collaborative project being developed by the Family Opera Initiative. Conceived by its director, Grethe Barrett Holby, as a space opera, ''The Three Astronauts'' is based on the children's

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

of the same name written by

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

and illustrated by Eugenio Carmi. The story involves a Russian, a Chinese, and an American

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

who all arrive on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

at the same time. In their fear and loneliness, they band together to hunt down and kill the Martian they encounter, but ultimately embrace him as a friend.Ruch (2004) The work is envisaged as an integration of orchestral passages, children's chorus, sung and spoken text, movement, and visual theater. It will be performed in English, Chinese, Russian and "Martian" with each of the astronauts performing in their own language without

supertitles Surtitles, also known as supertitles, Captitles, SurCaps, OpTrans, are translated or transcribed lyrics/dialogue projected above a stage or displayed on a screen, commonly used in opera, theatre or other musical performances. The word "surtitle" ...

. Librettists and composers from each country will write the dialogue and music for the astronauts, with a new language created for the Martian. American poet

Nikki Giovanni Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024) was an American poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator. One of the world's best-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recor ...

's ''We're Going to Mars'' forms the text for the children's chorus. Eugenio Carmi will be the lead designer. The project's development partners are Ardea Arts and

, with major funding provided The Jaffe Family Foundation.

Gallery

Image:SG GK Chopping off Gawain's Head.JPG, Anthony Pulgram and Ricardo Herrera in ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' (2001) Image:Fireworks-design-drawing.jpg, Stage design by Kelly Hanson for the opening scene of ''Fireworks'' (2002)

References

*Brazelton, Kitty
''Fireworks''
2002. Accessed 28 February 2009. *Drozdowski, Ted,
George Howard and Kitty Brazelton show how it's done
''The Boston Phoenix'', December 12–18, 2003. Accessed 28 February 2009. *Filipski, Kevin

''The Brooklyn Paper'', October 29, 2001. Accessed 28 February 2009. *Graeber, Laurel

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', October 26, 2001. Accessed 28 February 2009. *Maupin, Elizabeth

''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...

'', February 13, 2006. Accessed 28 February 2009. *''The New York Times''
Spare Times: Flurry Tale
December 17, 1999. Accessed 28 February 2009. *Ruch, Allen B.

themodernword.com, November 7, 2004. Accessed 28 February 2009. *Saxon, Wolfgang,

''The New York Times'', February 23, 2003. Accessed 28 February 2009. *Theatre for Young Audiences/USA

May 2007. Accessed March 1, 2009. *

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

American composers are creating new works for our times!
''Soundcheck'', June 26, 2002. Accessed 28 February 2009.

External links

*{{usurped,
Family Opera Initiative official web site
}
Grethe Barrett Holby biography on Pinnacle Arts ManagementGrethe Barrett Holby official web site
New York City opera companies Non-profit organizations based in New York (state) Musical groups established in 1995