Last week was a good one for Odyssey Opera. On Sunday, the company netted its first Grammy. Then, on Saturday, it continued its Tudor-themed season with the world premiere of Arnold Rosner’s 1984 opera The Chronicle of Nine: The Tragedy of Queen Jane at Jordan Hall.
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Jordan Hall in Boston was the setting for a concert version of Arnold Rosner’s The Chronicle of Nine. His only opera for full orchestra is having its world premiere. Gil Rose, recent Grammy winner for best recorded opera, finds treasures in the archives and brings them to our attention. We are fortunate indeed.
When I was still a student at the College-Conservatory of Music, I had a professor who once told the class that you could not have an opinion on a work of media unless you’ve experienced the work as a whole. Some in media criticism might call such an approach a lazy way out, but it is astounding how much can change about a work as you sit with it and wholly experience it.
During the early months of 1554, Lady Jane Grey sat anxiously in the Tower of London. She had come there the previous summer to be crowned Queen of England, taking over from Edward VI, who had died unexpectedly from tuberculosis. But instead, the tower had become her prison. As the English public united around the legitimate queen Mary Tudor, Jane, declared guilty of treason, awaited her execution by beheading.
Arnold Rosner’s “The Chronicle of Nine: The Tragedy of Queen Jane” is an operatic oddity of the first degree. Written on spec and finished in 1984, its score opens a portal to an alternate universe where the roughly two centuries of musical history between the death of Monteverdi and the premiere of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 never happened. Decades after its completion, it had never been performed or recorded in full.
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Mr. Rose, Ms. Budd and the players made a passionate, high-energy case for [Child Alice]. They also used it to put a double bar on their 20th-anniversary season, and to underscore their stature as one of this country's finest new-music ensembles."
- Allan Kozinn, The Wall Street Journal
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), affiliate orchestra for new music at New England Conservatory, will join NEC in sponsoring a concerto competition for works written after 1964.
Provisions: The competition will be held in late January in Jordan Hall. The competition will consist of one round.
Eligibility: The competition is open to any full-time NEC student, instrumental or vocal, who will be returning in the 2014/2015 academic year.
When: Friday, May 16 @ 8:00 p.m. (free pre-concert talk @ 7:00 p.m.)
Where: Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough Street), Boston, T: Symphony/Mass Ave.
Tickets: General $20 - $50/Students $10. To reserve seats now, contact BMOP at bmop.org or 781.324.0396. Starting April 18, tickets are also available through the Jordan Hall Box Office at 617.585.1260, in person, or at tix.com.
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), affiliate orchestra for new music at New England Conservatory, will join NEC in sponsoring the 2014 Concerto Competition for works written after 1963.
Provisions: The competition will be held on January 21, 2014, from 11am to 1pm in room 124 of the Jordan Hall building. The competition will consist of one round.
Eligibility: The competition is open to any full-time NEC student, instrumental or vocal, who is enrolled for the 2013/2014 academic year.
For immediate release: March 29, 2013
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