{"id":89,"date":"2014-05-25T22:12:12","date_gmt":"2014-05-25T22:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coteriedowntown.org\/?page_id=89"},"modified":"2014-06-09T02:18:06","modified_gmt":"2014-06-09T02:18:06","slug":"royce-vavrek","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.coteriedowntown.org\/?page_id=89","title":{"rendered":"ROYCE VAVREK"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vavrek<\/a><\/p>\n

Royce Vavrek<\/strong> is an Alberta-born, Brooklyn-based librettist and lyricist known as \u201can exemplary creator of operatic prose\u201d (The New York Times) and \u201ca favorite collaborator of the postclassical set\u201d (Time Out New York).\u00a0 His writing has been called \u201csharp, crisp, witty\u201d (See Magazine), \u201cmeticulous\u201d (Operavore, WQXR Radio), \u201cfull-throated\u201d (CulturePOP), \u201ctaut\u201d (The New Yorker), \u201cdramatically wild\u201d and \u201cexhilarating\u201d (The New York Times).<\/p>\n

His collaboration with composer David T. Little has led Heidi Waleson of the Wall Street Journal to proclaim them \u201cone of the most exciting composer-librettist teams working in opera today.\u201d\u00a0 Their first full-length opera, \u201cDog Days,\u201d received its world premiere in September of 2012 at Peak Performances @ Montclair, in a production co-produced by Beth Morrison Projects and directed by legendary American maverick Robert Woodruff.\u00a0 The work was celebrated as the Classical Music Event of the year by Time Out New York, one of the year\u2019s best by the New Jersey Star Ledger and a standout opera of recent decades by The New York Times.\u00a0 The production will travel to Fort Worth Opera and LA Opera in 2015 with the original creative team.\u00a0 Royce and David\u2019s other collaborations include \u201cAm I Born\u201d for the Brooklyn Philharmonic and Brooklyn Youth Chorus, \u201cVinkensport, or The Finch Opera\u201d for Bard Conservatory; \u201carchaeology,\u201d commissioned and recorded for The Opera America Songbook; and \u201cLast Nightfall,\u201d premiered as part of the 21c Liederabend, Op. 2 at The Kitchen.\u00a0 They are currently working on JFK, <\/em>a grand opera commissioned by Fort Worth Opera and American Lyric Theater about John F. Kennedy\u2019s final night.<\/p>\n

Royce will next premiere \u201c27,\u201d his first collaboration with composer Ricky Ian Gordon at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in June of 2014.\u00a0 Created for renowned mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, the work explores Gertrude Stein\u2019s famous salon at 27 rue de Fleurus that hosted the likes of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.\u00a0 The production will be directed by James Robinson, conducted by Michael Christie, and will feature soprano Elizabeth Futral in the role of Alice B. Toklas.<\/p>\n

With composer Missy Mazzoli he wrote the opera \u201cSong from the Uproar\u201d which was presented by Beth Morrison Projects at The Kitchen in February of 2012.\u00a0 An original cast recording of the opera was released in the fall of 2012 on New Amsterdam Records.\u00a0 They are currently adapting Lars von Trier\u2019s Cannes Grand Prix award-winning film \u201cBreaking the Waves\u201d for Opera Philadelphia.\u00a0 The first aria from the opera was presented as part of the 21c Liederabend, Op. 3 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last year.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2013 Royce premiered the \u201cThe Hubble Cantata\u201d with composer Paola Prestini at Bay Chamber Concerts, a collaboration with filmmaker Carmen Kordas and astrophysicist Mario Livio. \u00a0The work was performed by soprano Jessica Rivera and the International Contemporary Ensemble and featured violinist Cornelius Dufallo.\u00a0 Royce and Paola are currently writing a second installment of \u201cThe Hubble Cantata\u201d for baritone Nathan Gunn, as well as a collection of songs inspired by the posts of Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez.\u00a0 One of their \u201cYoani\u201d songs will be featured as part of the AIDS Quilt Songbook, performed by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard.<\/p>\n

Other recent and upcoming projects include \u201cStrip Mall\u201d with Matt Marks for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, \u201cStoned Prince\u201d with Hannah Lash for loadbang, \u201cMidwestern Gothic\u201d with Josh Schmidt for Signature Theater and development of \u201cThe Wild Beast of the Bungalow\u201d with Rachel Peters through the Center for Contemporary Opera.<\/p>\n

Royce is co-Artistic Director of The Coterie, an opera-theater company founded with soprano Lauren Worsham.\u00a0 He holds a BFA in Filmmaking and Creative Writing from Concordia University\u2019s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal and an MFA in Musical Theater Writing from New York University.\u00a0 He is an alum of ALT\u2019s Composer Librettist Development Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Royce Vavrek is an Alberta-born, Brooklyn-based librettist and lyricist known as \u201can exemplary creator of operatic prose\u201d (The New York Times) and \u201ca favorite collaborator of the postclassical set\u201d (Time Out New York).\u00a0 His writing has been called \u201csharp, crisp, witty\u201d (See Magazine), \u201cmeticulous\u201d (Operavore, WQXR Radio), \u201cfull-throated\u201d (CulturePOP), \u201ctaut\u201d (The New Yorker), \u201cdramatically wild\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-89","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coteriedowntown.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/89","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coteriedowntown.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coteriedowntown.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coteriedowntown.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coteriedowntown.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.coteriedowntown.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/89\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110,"href":"http:\/\/www.coteriedowntown.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/89\/revisions\/110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coteriedowntown.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}