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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE___________________________________________
SOPRANO JANINAH BURNETT LEADS CAST TO FREEDOM
IN HARRIET TUBMAN FOLK OPERA PREMIERE
PART OF ‘LINES OF FREEDOM’ FEST CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY
MONTH AT IRONDALE CENTER IN BROOKLYN
New York, NY—Soprano Janinah Burnett (Metropolitan Opera, La Bohème
on Broadway) will portray American icon Harriet Tubman in a new folk
opera with music and lyrics by Nigerian-born composer Nkeiru Okoye.
Produced by AOP (American Opera Projects), Harriet Tubman: When I
Crossed That Line to Freedom will be premiere in a chamber version as one
half of the Lines of Freedom festival running February 20 – March 1 at
Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, NY. Tickets start at $15
and can be purchased at www.irondale.org or by telephone at Ovationtix,
866 811-4111. Tickets are also available at the TKTS Booth.
Using a mixture of opera and vernacular folk music, featuring gospel
spirituals, ragtime, early blues, minstrel songs, work songs, call and
responses, and field hollers, Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to
Freedom tells this important chapter of American history in the context of
Tubman’s tight-knit family and the slavery threatening to tear them apart.
The folk opera will also include vocal performances by Marsha Thompson
(New York City Opera), Nicole Mitchell (Lincoln Center Festival), Clinton
Ingram (Metropolitan Opera), Briana Elyse Hunter, Damian Norfleet, Patrice
P. Eaton, Ernest Jackson, Kyle Guglielmo, and Anthony P. McGlaun and
feature The Harlem Chamber Players, conducted by Leslie B. Dunner, with
stage direction by Lemuel Wade (L’Opera de Montreal).
Lines of Freedom brings two works of exciting musical theater and opera to
the stage in celebration of the rich heritage of abolitionism and the
Underground Railroad. The shows are presented during Black History Month
by The Irondale Ensemble Project and AOP (American Opera Projects),
two arts organizations based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. In addition to AOP’s
Tubman opera, The Irondale Ensemble Project will present Color Between
the Lines: The Abolitionist Struggle in Brooklyn, a work created in
collaboration with Brooklyn Historical Society and Weeksville Heritage
Center as part of In Pursuit of Freedom, the first public history project to
explore abolition and the anti-slavery movement in Brooklyn.
Presentations of Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom are
supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of
Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and a generous grant
from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works.
Complete production credits and bios available at
http://operaprojects.org/events/TubmanIrondale2014
END
MEDIA RELEASE
HARRIET TUBMAN: WHEN I
CROSSED THAT LINE TO
FREEDOM
Music and libretto by
Nkeiru Okoye
LINES OF FREEDOM Festival
Feb 20 – March 1, 2014
Irondale Center
85 South Oxford Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
TICKET PRICE:
General Admission $25
Senior/Students $15
Matinees $15
Freedom Package - See
both shows for $40
Freedom Matinee Package See both matinees for $25
For tix: www.irondale.org,
866-811-4111
RUNNING TIME:
120 Minutes with intermission
Co-presented by AOP and the
Irondale Ensemble Project
Performances by:
Janinah Burnett, Briana Elyse
Hunter, Nicole Mitchell, Clinton
Ingram, Damian Norfleet,
Marsha Thompson, Ernest
Jackson, Patrice P. Eaton, Kyle
Guglielmo, Anthony P. McGlaun.
Featuring The Harlem Chamber
Players
Conducted by Leslie B. Dunner.
Stage direction by Lemuel
Wade.
Contact:
Matt Gray
AOP Producing Director
[email protected]
718-398-4024
Press Photos:
www.operaprojects.org/press