miniatures behind the door


UPCOMING


2019

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JÚRAME

“PROMISE ME,” Spain and Latin America in Song
Zarzuela, Opera, and Art Song from Argentina, Cuba, Spain, and Mexico

María Brea, soprano
Linda Collazo, mezzo soprano
Pablo Zinger, pianist and curator

Pablo Zinger, dubbed “The King of Zarzuela” by Opera News, will be joined by two vibrant young Latin American opera singers, soprano María Brea and mezzo soprano Linda Collazo, for a celebration of the depth and passion of Spanish and Latin American vocal music.

Sunday, April 7th, 2019, 4:00 pm
Behind the Door

Brown Paper Tickets


miniatures Behind the Door 2019 series is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).

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ANIMA MUNDI: THE COSMOS SHIMMERS

Anima Baroque Ensemble

Beth Anne Hatton, soprano
Vita Wallace, baroque violin
Motomi Igarashi, viola da gamba & lirone
Christa Patton, harp

From the mysteries of the musical proportions of the Soul of the World (Amina Mundi), to the cosmic messes caused by Love and the senses, The Cosmos Shimmers reflects on the elements and the eternal harmonies of body and soul, both universal and all-too-human. With readings paraphrased from Plato’s Timaeus.

Wednesday, May 1st, 2019, 8:00 pm
Behind the Door

miniatures Behind the Door 2019 series is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).

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THE CHILDREN’S HOUR

Sunday, May 12th, 2019, 4:00 pm
Behind the Door

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BUCKY AND HIS FRIENDS

“You never know what’s gonna happen.” –Bucky Malocchio

A Variety Show
written and performed by Isidore Elias

Saturday, May 18th, 2019, 8:00 pm
Sunday, May 19th, 2019, 4:00 pm
Behind the Door

miniatures Behind the Door 2019 series is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).

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THE CONSTITUTION

A Secular Oratorio
by Benjamin Yarmolinsky

Thursday, June 27, 2019, 7:30 pm
Saturday, June 30, 2019, 4:00  pm
Behind the Door and at another location TBA

We The People image by Karni Dorell

VPR is a proud participant in the fourth annual New York Opera Fest, joining over 30 New York City-based companies putting on over 30 events in venues around the city in May and June.



PAST



I STAND ALONE
three monodramas for the female voice

I Stand Alone_Option 3

Knoxville, Summer of 1915 by Samuel Barber
Tesla’s Pigeon by Melissa Dunphy
Phaedra by Benjamin Britten
Friday, June 30, 8:00pm & Sunday, July 2, 8:00pm
Behind the Door
219 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

More Info HERE

 NYOF_Event_2017_Light_Color

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If Women Will Not Be Inclined
Women Composers, Women’s Voices

Music of the 19th and 20th Centuries
Lili Boulanger, Amy Beach, Maria Malibran & Pauline Viardot

Sunday, April 30, 2017, 4:00 pm

Behind the Door
219 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
All proceeds will go to the Anti Violence Project

Judith Barnes, Hayden Dewitt, Katya Gruzglina, Mal Harrison, Christina Lamberti, Francesca Mondanaro, Andrea Reichenbach & Ellen Teufel, vocalists
Doug Han, piano

Curated by Thea Cook

AVP Logo

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MILTON RESNICK at 100: A Centenary View

A remembrance and a showing of a new film, “Milton Resnick Paints a Picture.”

Resnick

Disorder but completeness, a total anarchy and at the same time a universal truth.  — MR

Friday, March 31, 2017, 8:00 pm

Behind the Door
219 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

The painter Milton Resnick (1917-2004) would have been 100 this year. He was born in Ukraine, and fled the pogroms with his family when he was five years old, eventually settling in Brooklyn, where he lived until he left home as a teenager after his father forbade him to be an artist. In the 1930s he was on the WPA artist project, and in 1940 he was drafted and served in the U.S. Army through all of World War II. After returning to New York in September 1945, Resnick immediately began painting abstractions, thereby cementing his historical position as a member of the first generation of American Abstract Expressionists. He was a founding member of the Artists’ Club of the 1950s. A larger than life personality, a poet, raconteur and philosopher, he might have become one of the towering figures of 20th century painting, had he cared to embrace the public. A museum devoted to his legacy is scheduled to open this year in his studio, a defunct synagogue in Chinatown, NYC.

The evening will feature “Milton Resnick Paints a Picture,” a short film of him painting and discussing his views on art and society, followed by a projection of paintings painted over eight separate decades.

Our host will be painter and writer Geoffrey Dorfman, secretary and trustee of the Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation. His awards include an NEA Grant and the National Academy’s Henry Ward Ranger Prize in Painting. He contributed to Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: the Muriel Kallis Newman Collection (The Metropolitan and Yale University, 2007). He has written for Artforum and Stagebill and authored Out Of the Picture; Milton Resnick and the New York School (Midmarch Arts Press, 2003).

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pia_no-logo_final

piaNO – a recital of songs for voice & not piano

Saturday, January 28, 2017, 7:00pm
Behind the Door
219 Court Street
Brooklyn NY 11201


all revenue will benefit the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)

Vertical Player Repertory presents sopranos Elise Brancheau, Chelsea Feltman, and Katya Gruzglina in piaNO, a recital of songs for voice and solo instruments – but not piano, featuring Timothy Leonard, cellist; David Rocca, bassoonist; Charlotte Nicholas, violinist; and Christian Berrigan, guitarist.

The program begins with an arrangement for soprano, violin, and cello of the beloved aria “Bist du bei mir,” (although generally attributed to J. S. Bach, it’s actually from Diomedes, an opera by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel). Andrew Hsu’s contemporary piece for soprano and cello, “Philtrum,” with text by the poet Taije Silverman, explores the origin of the philtrum (the indent above the lips and below the nose), as explained in Jewish mythology. Lori Laitman’s poignant song cycle for soprano and bassoon, “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” sets poetry written by children murdered in the Holocaust. Violin and voice are paired in Heitor Villa-Lobos’ “Suite for Violin and Voice,” inspired by Portuguese folk melodies. Bringing the folk theme closer to home, a set of songs by iconic female singer/songwriters of the 1960s, accompanied by guitar, will close the program.

Tickets are $20 ($10 for students with a valid student ID), and may be purchased online or at the door, based on availability. Reservations or pre-purchase strongly encouraged, as space is limited.

All proceeds of this recital will be donated to the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), a national organization that defends and preserves the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. A representative from the NYCLU will be present at the performance to speak briefly about the organization’s mission and ways to donate and/or get involved. For more information on the ACLU, visit www.aclu.org, and for information on the NYCLU, visit www.nyclu.org.

Can’t attend but would like to donate to help the cause? Tax-deductible donations can be made the the NYCLU in honor of Vertical Player Repertory or your favorite performer. To make a contribution, please visit https://action.aclu.org/secure/aclu-new-york-tribute-gift-form

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INCONTRO BAROCCO

Jewels of the Baroque
(high voices and low tea in a semi-precious setting)

Saturday, November 28, 2015, 4:00 pm
Sunday, November 29, 2015, 2:00 pm

Behind the Door

DeWitt, Savage and Dornak

Opera Feroce and VPR team up for Jewels of the Baroque, the latest episode in the Incontro Barocco series.

An uptight baroque band and an unruly troupe of singers are hired to entertain at the home of a wealthy family with pretensions to nobility. A nod to the salon concert, Jewels of the Baroque is a gleefully assembled smorgasbord of instrumental and vocal works trespassing across genres, styles and national boundaries. Singers and instrumentalists alike are costumed in High Baroque style, and the audience is shown more than a glimpse of the rivalry, revelry, and repartee among the players.

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FRENCH SONG IN TRANSIT

Métamorphoses et Mélodies

Thursday, May 28, 2015
8:30 pm

Behind the Door

facebook duo - Copy - Copy (640x420)

Rémy Yulzari, double bass
Yegor Shevtsov, piano
with Judith Barnes, mezzo soprano

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THE VIRTUOSI QUINTET

Autumn Harvest

Wednesday, Nov 5, 2014
8:00 pm

Behind the Door

Virtuosi2

a selection of works from baroque to contemporary, celebrating the acclaimed Virtuosi Quintet’s 31st season.

Music of Bach, Damase, Grieg, Ligeti, Hindemith and Running.

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STELLA NEMICA INFAUSTA

rare bel canto arias for mezzo soprano

Thursday, October 30, 2014
7:30 pm

Behind the Door

Hayden painter

Hayden DeWitt, mezzo soprano
Cathy Venable, piano
Thea Cook, curator

An evening of treasures plucked from the dusty attic of Italian opera and polished to their former luster. The program will feature rarities by Verdi’s rivals Alessandro Nini, Giovanni Pacini and Federico Ricci, as well as early comic arias by Saverio Mercadante and Gaetano Donizetti. Some of these arias will be receiving their first public performance since the 19th century.

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THE HEMINGS DIARY

a reading of a new play by Lucille Lichtblau

Thursday, October 23, 2014
7:30 pm

Behind the Door

HDrow1

with Che Ayende, Ezra Barnes, Nurit Monacelli and Libya Pugh
directed by Melissa Maxwell

A mysterious diary found at an estate sale gives a young, mixed race couple a troubling legacy to consider; that of founding father Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, who bore him six children.

A TWO PLANKS PRODUCTION

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ALBUM FOR THE NOT-SO-YOUNG

Benjamin Yarmolinsky, composer and guitarist

Tuesday, July 29, 2014
8:00 pm

Behind the Door

ben y

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OBSESSION SONGS

Friday, May 23, 2014
8:00 pm

Behind the Door

magritte

Judith Barnes, mezzo soprano
Hayden DeWitt, mezzo soprano
Bruce Rameker, baritone
Richard Pearson Thomas, piano

A program of songs inspired by obsessive love, longing and dream states, featuring the Ossessione song cycle by Richard Pearson Thomas.

PROGRAM includes songs by John Dowland, Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, Henri Duparc, Reinaldo Hahn, Jules Massenet, Antonio Caldara, Giovanni Bononcini, and Ossesione by Richard Pearson Thomas, a song cycle inspired by the much loved Arie Antiche from the Schirmer Italian Song Anthology.

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BUCKY’S BACK!

Bucky and his Friends|
“You never know what’ll happen.”

Written and performed by Isidore Elias

Friday, May 16, 2014
8:00 pm

bucky fedora grayscale (2)

An evening of comedy and music with Bucky and His Friends, featuring Bucky Malocchio and his adorable Buckettes, with a guest appearance by Bucky’s rootin-tootin cousin Billy-Bob Hannity.

with

Evelyn Thatcher, vocals
Tiffany Stoker, vocals
Beverly Closs, piano
Lane Warren, bass
Cody Rahn, drums

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SLUGGING A VAMPIRE
Beautiful and Outlandish Songs
by Charles Ives and Richard Pearson Thomas

Friday, May 9, 2014
8:00 pm

Ives-Charles-03

Bruce Rameker, baritone
Richard Pearson Thomas, piano

PROGRAM includes
Religion / At the River / Serenity
Slugging a Vampire / Two little flowers
The white gulls / Thoreau

and other songs by Charles Ives
I never saw a moor / Jordan / Diamonds / Voyeur
Spinster of Chelsea Embankment /Azulao / Poison
and other songs by Richard Pearson Thomas

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MUSICAL VISIONS

Saturday, May 3, 2014
7:30 pm

Klee

Maeve Hoglund, soprano
Marnie Laird, piano

PROGRAM includes
Amarilli mia bella by Giulio Caccini
Mattinata by Ruggero Leoncavallo
Come raggio di sol
by Antionio Caldara
Il bacio by Luigi Arditi
Kaddisch by Maurice Ravel
Elfenlied by Hugo Wolf
Allah akbar allah by Karol Symanowski
Ce doux petit visage by Francis Poulenc
Rushes by Chris DeBlasio
Siete canciones populares Españolas by Manuel de Falla

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IL PASTORE INNAMORATO
(the lovesick shepherd)

Friday, April 11, 2014
8:00 pm

Good_Shepherd_04

Hayden DeWitt, mezzo soprano
Beth Anne Hatton, soprano
Cathy Venable, piano and flute
Joseph Trent, flute

PROGRAM includes
Der Hirt auf dem Felsen
 by Franz Schubert
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen by Gustav Mahler
Selections from Il Re Pastore by Wolfgang A. Mozart
Selections from sonatas for two flutes by Georg Philipp Telemann

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Sonnets to Orpheus

an evening with Rainer Maria Rilke

Paula_Modersohn-Becker_016

Hayden DeWitt, mezzo soprano
Paul Hecht, reader
Rita Costanzi, harp

Thursday, January 2, 2014, 7:30 PM
Behind the Door

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THE DWARF

(sneak preview)

Thursday, June 20, 2013, 8:00 pm
Saturday, June 22, 2013, 4:00 pm
 
In Front of and Behind the Door

dwarfsquare

A preview and party to foreshadow our upcoming full production of Yoav Gal’s THE DWARF

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THE PEACE

libretto reading

PeaceSquare

an open reading of the libretto of VPR’s first commissioned opera, THE PEACE, by composer Nizan Leibovich and librettist Isidore Elias

Saturday, June 1st, 2013, 3:30 pm
Behind The Door

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THE MILLAY SISTERS

a cabaret

Saturday, May 18, 2013, 7:30 pm
Behind the Door

MillaySquare

open rehearsal

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INCONTRO BAROCCO

April 6th & 7th, 2013, 8:00 pm
Behind the Door

IncontroSquare

A sumptuously costumed evening of music with Opera Feroce and friends