VANQUI, The Opera
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VANQUI, The Opera
VANQUI is a tale of death and resurrection through the eyes of the heroine, Vanqui, a 19th century slave woman. The original music of Leslie Savoy Burrs and the libretto by John A. Williams brings new sound and text to this performance by framing a uniquely American experience in a compelling, multi-dimensional work of art. This opera portrays the story of two Africans, Vanqui and Prince. Enslaved in America, this married couple is forcibly separated and then both are cruelly murdered. They are resurrected as spirits who ride the wind searching for each other and for the Baobab tree. During their journey, they encounter famous freedom fighters including Harriet Tubman, Henry "Box" Brown, Nat Turner, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown. Reunited in the end, Vanqui and Prince symbolize the triumph of slaves over an inhumane system and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.
A Brief History
VANQUI has won the acclaim of the opera community from the rural mid-west to The Sorbonne in Paris, France. Excerpts of this opera were performed at the invitation of Harvard University for their APRIL IN PARIS CONFERENCE, AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC and EUROPE as well as their Gala Award Presentation in Paris to honor Quincy Jones. The music of VANQUI is grounded in jazz and operatic traditions with contemporary music overtones. Composer Leslie Burrs received The Legacy Award from the National Opera Association for composing the opera VANQUI. He was the first composer to receive this award. Librettist John A. Williams received the American Book Award for his book of poetry, Safari West that includes four poems from the VANQUI libretto. VANQUI received the Artistic Excellence Award from the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Opera Columbus received the Campaign Success Award from Opera/America for the VANQUI project. Performances of VANQUI played to sold-out houses during its premiere run in Columbus, Ohio, to audiences made up in large part by individuals who had never before attended an opera. VANQUI has been presented at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture to commemorate the African Burial Ground in New York City. The full production of VANQUI was presented in Philadelphia at the Prince Music Theater by Opera North, Inc. Multimedia presentations of VANQUI have been performed at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Franklin and Marshall College and The Annenberg Center’s, Zellerbach Theater at the University of Pennsylvania featuring theater and television actor Avery Brooks and the art work of David C. Driskell. Painter David C. Driskell received the Presidential Medal from William Jefferson Clinton in December 2000 as a National Endowment for the Humanities recipient.
(See below for the Washington Post reviews)
VANQUI has featured internationally renowned American artists from the opera, classical, and jazz worlds. They include: original Three Mo’ Tenors star Rodrick Dixon; soprano Carmen Balthrop, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco, Houston and Santa Fe opera companies; mezzo Marietta Simpson, the Royal Opera House, Houston and New York City Opera companies; soprano Benita Valente, the Metropolitan Opera and other major companies throughout the world; jazz sensation Gerald Veasley; "Emeril Live" music director Doc Gibbs; pianist Bobby Jones who has toured extensively with the Doc Severinsen Big Band; Diane Monroe, classical and jazz violin soloist, Ms. Monroe appeared in the movie Music Of The Heart starring Meryl Streep; Dr. Kay G. Roberts, international conductor and educator; South African percussionist, Moguawane Mahloele and international choreographer, music staging director, Mercedes Ellington.
(See below for the Washington Post reviews)
VANQUI • An American Opera
• VANQUI addresses the issues and concerns of diversity, American history and African American opera representation. This project could include an orchestra, jazz ensemble, vocal soloists and chorus with optional screen projected images of artwork and celebrity narrators.
• The music for VANQUI is described as Urban Classical Music combining classical, jazz, African American and contemporary music idioms. VANQUI has featured internationally renowned American artists from the opera, classical, jazz and literary worlds.
• VANQUI could involve the participation of states, cities and towns in the US and portions of Canada that were actively involved in the Underground Railroad as well as those countries that played a role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
• The artistic and historic content of VANQUI provides an effective and engaging outreach and education component to be utilized in classroom settings and as a potential interactive Internet program.
• VANQUI has an aesthetic and spiritual quality, which embraces and reflects the African American experience in American history and society.
• VANQUI is a proven and highly successful crossover presentation, based on the reviews and audience attendance of the premiere run.
• Leslie Burrs received The Legacy Award from the National Opera Association (February 2002) for composing the opera VANQUI.
• VANQUI librettist: John A. Williams received the 1998 American Book Award for his book of poetry, Safari West which includes four poems from the VANQUI libretto.
• VANQUI received the Artistic Excellence Award from the Greater Columbus Arts Council (April 2000). It also received the Campaign Success Award from Opera/America.
• VANQUI enhances audience development capabilities, particularly for the African American community and college age students.
REVIEWS:
WASHINGTON POST
Powerful 'Vanqui' Joins a Love Story and the Antislavery Struggle
Monday, March 6, 2006; Page C04
"Vanqui," an opera that its composer, Leslie Savoy Burrs, calls "urban classical," fuses African drumming, contemporary classical, jazz and gospel styles. Performed Saturday at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park to mark the University of Maryland's 150th anniversary, the piece was no less than dazzling.
Premiered in 1999 by Opera Columbus as part of its commitment to cultural diversity, the opera is musically appealing and emotionally powerful, due equally to Burrs (also a flutist) and librettist John A. Williams, both African Americans. The plot joins a touching love story with myth and history: two murdered slaves, man and wife, in the American South are transformed as spirits, pondering their journey from Africa to America, as well as historical heroes in the struggle for liberty. Views of paintings by artist David Driskell, projected behind the performers, reinforced the emotion of the drama with colorful Picassoesque imagery.
Conductor Kay George Roberts led an intensely paced concert version of "Vanqui," carefully balancing soloists, orchestra and chorus. Sopranos Carmen Balthrop and Lisa Edwards-Burrs, mezzo Delores Ziegler and baritones Brian Johnson and N. Cameron Chandler headed the cast, bringing both tension and tenderness to their roles.
Burrs divided his orchestra into a set of typically classical instruments and a jazz ensemble, which interacted with dedicated teamwork. The drummer on African percussion, the pianist, solo violinist, guitarist and flutist launched into mesmerizing jazz improv that was nothing less than sensational. The Voices of Gwynedd from Gwynedd-Mercy College and the First Presbyterian Senior Choir from Springfield, Pa., provided true-to-life gospel style.-- Cecelia Porter
• OPERA REVIEW
Vanqui and Opera Columbus - July 1999
written by Charles H. Parsons Source:Opera Magazine
"As part of its commitment to cultural diversity, Opera Columbus commissioned two African American artists to develop a new opera that would appeal to Americans of all races, ages and backgrounds. The result is Vanqui with music by the Philadelphia-based composer, flautist and educator Leslie Savoy Burrs and a libretto by the distinguished author-novelist and scholar John A. Williams.
Burrs calls his musical style urban classical, fusing classical, African and contemporary styles. It's all quite tonal, easily accessible music, tuneful, emotional, expressive. Particularly powerful are its choral passages, both of despair and of celebration.
Happily the musical performance was an all-round powerful one. The soprano Carmen Balthrop sang Vanqui's music with mystical rapture and warm, luscious tone. Michael Forest was all dignified nobility as Prince, his bright, clear tenor voice much in evidence. Impressively clad in colourful African garb, Pamela Dillard was also strong vocally in the dual role of Garner/Moremi. Benita Valente began cautiously, but quickly warmed to her touching aria in which Melody Cardwell compares her life as plantation wife to that of her slaves. Reginald Pindell sang a fierce Nat Turner, but William Florescu made a weak John Brown.
As fine as the singers were, the real stars of the evening were the Raise Mass Choir, directed by Raymond Wise and the Opera/Columbus Orchestra, conducted by Gary Sheldon, aided by Chakaba, an African American ensemble of piano, electric guitar, and an array of African percussion instruments."
• Excerpt from THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH MUSIC REVIEW
VANQUI and THE LANCASTER FESTIVAL July 27, 1999
Written by Ralph O'Dette
"...Sheldon then turned to excerpts from the opera Vanqui by Burrs. Burrs is a flutist and educator as well as composer. He has been especially interested in melding African music, jazz, and classical techniques. Not merely a cross-over artist, Burrs is an integrator. In that sense, Vanqui is in the line of succession to Porgy and Bess. Sheldon led members of the Festival Orchestra, the Raise Mass Choir and Burrs' folk/jazz ensemble Chakaba in several exciting numbers that whetted the appetite for the world premiere Opera/Columbus production in the fall."
• The Tavis Smiley Show, January 14, 2004
Burrs and Williams spoke with NPR's Tavis Smiley about their opera VANQUI and its signature blend of jazz, classical and African music cues -- a sound Burrs calls "urban classical," and about Burrs' jazz CD, Blue Harlem, Black Knight, where he collaborates with other musicians to explore that unique sound further.
Hear full-length cuts from a live September 2003 performance of the opera: Ride Vanqui Ride; Moremi's Lullaby; Land.
and selections from the Leslie Burrs jazz CD Blue Harlem, Black Knight at this NPR link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1596584
Marketing
Vanqui performances can be marketed in a number of ways:
• To states, cities and towns in the U.S. and areas of Canada that were actively involved in the Underground Railroad.
• To European and other continents impacted by the African Diaspora.
• To venues and companies that present contemporary opera.
A Brief History
VANQUI has won the acclaim of the opera community from the rural mid-west to The Sorbonne in Paris, France. Excerpts of this opera were performed at the invitation of Harvard University for their APRIL IN PARIS CONFERENCE, AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC and EUROPE as well as their Gala Award Presentation in Paris to honor Quincy Jones. The music of VANQUI is grounded in jazz and operatic traditions with contemporary music overtones. Composer Leslie Burrs received The Legacy Award from the National Opera Association for composing the opera VANQUI. He was the first composer to receive this award. Librettist John A. Williams received the American Book Award for his book of poetry, Safari West that includes four poems from the VANQUI libretto. VANQUI received the Artistic Excellence Award from the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Opera Columbus received the Campaign Success Award from Opera/America for the VANQUI project. Performances of VANQUI played to sold-out houses during its premiere run in Columbus, Ohio, to audiences made up in large part by individuals who had never before attended an opera. VANQUI has been presented at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture to commemorate the African Burial Ground in New York City. The full production of VANQUI was presented in Philadelphia at the Prince Music Theater by Opera North, Inc. Multimedia presentations of VANQUI have been performed at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Franklin and Marshall College and The Annenberg Center’s, Zellerbach Theater at the University of Pennsylvania featuring theater and television actor Avery Brooks and the art work of David C. Driskell. Painter David C. Driskell received the Presidential Medal from William Jefferson Clinton in December 2000 as a National Endowment for the Humanities recipient.
(See below for the Washington Post reviews)
VANQUI has featured internationally renowned American artists from the opera, classical, and jazz worlds. They include: original Three Mo’ Tenors star Rodrick Dixon; soprano Carmen Balthrop, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco, Houston and Santa Fe opera companies; mezzo Marietta Simpson, the Royal Opera House, Houston and New York City Opera companies; soprano Benita Valente, the Metropolitan Opera and other major companies throughout the world; jazz sensation Gerald Veasley; "Emeril Live" music director Doc Gibbs; pianist Bobby Jones who has toured extensively with the Doc Severinsen Big Band; Diane Monroe, classical and jazz violin soloist, Ms. Monroe appeared in the movie Music Of The Heart starring Meryl Streep; Dr. Kay G. Roberts, international conductor and educator; South African percussionist, Moguawane Mahloele and international choreographer, music staging director, Mercedes Ellington.
(See below for the Washington Post reviews)
VANQUI • An American Opera
• VANQUI addresses the issues and concerns of diversity, American history and African American opera representation. This project could include an orchestra, jazz ensemble, vocal soloists and chorus with optional screen projected images of artwork and celebrity narrators.
• The music for VANQUI is described as Urban Classical Music combining classical, jazz, African American and contemporary music idioms. VANQUI has featured internationally renowned American artists from the opera, classical, jazz and literary worlds.
• VANQUI could involve the participation of states, cities and towns in the US and portions of Canada that were actively involved in the Underground Railroad as well as those countries that played a role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
• The artistic and historic content of VANQUI provides an effective and engaging outreach and education component to be utilized in classroom settings and as a potential interactive Internet program.
• VANQUI has an aesthetic and spiritual quality, which embraces and reflects the African American experience in American history and society.
• VANQUI is a proven and highly successful crossover presentation, based on the reviews and audience attendance of the premiere run.
• Leslie Burrs received The Legacy Award from the National Opera Association (February 2002) for composing the opera VANQUI.
• VANQUI librettist: John A. Williams received the 1998 American Book Award for his book of poetry, Safari West which includes four poems from the VANQUI libretto.
• VANQUI received the Artistic Excellence Award from the Greater Columbus Arts Council (April 2000). It also received the Campaign Success Award from Opera/America.
• VANQUI enhances audience development capabilities, particularly for the African American community and college age students.
REVIEWS:
WASHINGTON POST
Powerful 'Vanqui' Joins a Love Story and the Antislavery Struggle
Monday, March 6, 2006; Page C04
"Vanqui," an opera that its composer, Leslie Savoy Burrs, calls "urban classical," fuses African drumming, contemporary classical, jazz and gospel styles. Performed Saturday at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park to mark the University of Maryland's 150th anniversary, the piece was no less than dazzling.
Premiered in 1999 by Opera Columbus as part of its commitment to cultural diversity, the opera is musically appealing and emotionally powerful, due equally to Burrs (also a flutist) and librettist John A. Williams, both African Americans. The plot joins a touching love story with myth and history: two murdered slaves, man and wife, in the American South are transformed as spirits, pondering their journey from Africa to America, as well as historical heroes in the struggle for liberty. Views of paintings by artist David Driskell, projected behind the performers, reinforced the emotion of the drama with colorful Picassoesque imagery.
Conductor Kay George Roberts led an intensely paced concert version of "Vanqui," carefully balancing soloists, orchestra and chorus. Sopranos Carmen Balthrop and Lisa Edwards-Burrs, mezzo Delores Ziegler and baritones Brian Johnson and N. Cameron Chandler headed the cast, bringing both tension and tenderness to their roles.
Burrs divided his orchestra into a set of typically classical instruments and a jazz ensemble, which interacted with dedicated teamwork. The drummer on African percussion, the pianist, solo violinist, guitarist and flutist launched into mesmerizing jazz improv that was nothing less than sensational. The Voices of Gwynedd from Gwynedd-Mercy College and the First Presbyterian Senior Choir from Springfield, Pa., provided true-to-life gospel style.-- Cecelia Porter
• OPERA REVIEW
Vanqui and Opera Columbus - July 1999
written by Charles H. Parsons Source:Opera Magazine
"As part of its commitment to cultural diversity, Opera Columbus commissioned two African American artists to develop a new opera that would appeal to Americans of all races, ages and backgrounds. The result is Vanqui with music by the Philadelphia-based composer, flautist and educator Leslie Savoy Burrs and a libretto by the distinguished author-novelist and scholar John A. Williams.
Burrs calls his musical style urban classical, fusing classical, African and contemporary styles. It's all quite tonal, easily accessible music, tuneful, emotional, expressive. Particularly powerful are its choral passages, both of despair and of celebration.
Happily the musical performance was an all-round powerful one. The soprano Carmen Balthrop sang Vanqui's music with mystical rapture and warm, luscious tone. Michael Forest was all dignified nobility as Prince, his bright, clear tenor voice much in evidence. Impressively clad in colourful African garb, Pamela Dillard was also strong vocally in the dual role of Garner/Moremi. Benita Valente began cautiously, but quickly warmed to her touching aria in which Melody Cardwell compares her life as plantation wife to that of her slaves. Reginald Pindell sang a fierce Nat Turner, but William Florescu made a weak John Brown.
As fine as the singers were, the real stars of the evening were the Raise Mass Choir, directed by Raymond Wise and the Opera/Columbus Orchestra, conducted by Gary Sheldon, aided by Chakaba, an African American ensemble of piano, electric guitar, and an array of African percussion instruments."
• Excerpt from THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH MUSIC REVIEW
VANQUI and THE LANCASTER FESTIVAL July 27, 1999
Written by Ralph O'Dette
"...Sheldon then turned to excerpts from the opera Vanqui by Burrs. Burrs is a flutist and educator as well as composer. He has been especially interested in melding African music, jazz, and classical techniques. Not merely a cross-over artist, Burrs is an integrator. In that sense, Vanqui is in the line of succession to Porgy and Bess. Sheldon led members of the Festival Orchestra, the Raise Mass Choir and Burrs' folk/jazz ensemble Chakaba in several exciting numbers that whetted the appetite for the world premiere Opera/Columbus production in the fall."
• The Tavis Smiley Show, January 14, 2004
Burrs and Williams spoke with NPR's Tavis Smiley about their opera VANQUI and its signature blend of jazz, classical and African music cues -- a sound Burrs calls "urban classical," and about Burrs' jazz CD, Blue Harlem, Black Knight, where he collaborates with other musicians to explore that unique sound further.
Hear full-length cuts from a live September 2003 performance of the opera: Ride Vanqui Ride; Moremi's Lullaby; Land.
and selections from the Leslie Burrs jazz CD Blue Harlem, Black Knight at this NPR link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1596584
Marketing
Vanqui performances can be marketed in a number of ways:
• To states, cities and towns in the U.S. and areas of Canada that were actively involved in the Underground Railroad.
• To European and other continents impacted by the African Diaspora.
• To venues and companies that present contemporary opera.