Works by Andrew Gerle, Lucy Thurber, et al. Part of City Opera’s VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab

Excerpts from Andrew Gerle and Royce Vavrek’s The Beach and Arlene Sierra and Lucy Thurber’s Faustine will be presented as part of New York City Opera’s annual new music festival, VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab. The work will be heard during a program to be offered on May 14 at 2:30pm at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. The Festival will continue on May 15 at Le Poisson Rouge.

Inspired by recent events in France, The Beach, with music by Gerle and a libretto by Vavrek, focuses on the abuse of a wealthy older man by his much-younger wife, who has locked him away in the confines of the laundry room to escape the stress of her husband’s onset of Alzheimer’s. Faustine, with a score by Sierra and words by Thurber, is an adaptation of Emma Tennant’s book of the same name, and reworks the Faust legend to explore the power of a consumer-oriented desire for eternal youth and beauty.

In addition to these two works, the presentation on May 14 will include selections from All Three Acts of a Sad Play Performed Entirely in Bed, with music by Dag Gabrielsen and libretto by Julie Larios; Mary Shelley, with music by Allan Jaffe and a libretto by Deborah Atherton; Sun Yat-Sen, with music by Huang Ruo and a libretto by Candice Chong; and Vinkensport, with music by David T. Little and a libretto by Vavrek.

On May 15, selections from an additional four operas will be performed including: Hannah Lash’s Blood Rose, Paola Prestini and Donna DiNovelli’s De Deo, Jeff Myers and Vavrek’s Maren of Vardo, and Yoav Gal and Reuven Namdar’s Three Weeks.

For further information, click here.