THE VOCAL RECORD COLLECTORS SOCIETY Presents THE DISCERNING DRAMATURG with CORI ELLISON

May 26, 2012 by admin

THE VOCAL RECORD COLLECTORS SOCIETY Presents

THE DISCERNING DRAMATURG with CORI ELLISON

Friday, June 1, 7:45 PM, Christ Church – 3rd Floor Meeting room, Park Avenue and 60th Street.

It is with the very greatest pleasure that we welcome Cori
Ellison to the Vocal Record Collectors Society for a special
presentation in June. Ms. Ellison will need no introduction to
VRCS members as, in addition to myriad other accomplishments, we
have known her for years as Staff Dramaturg of the New York City
Opera, commentator and Opera Quiz panelist on the Metropolitan
Opera radio broadcasts, and as a writer on things operatic for
many important publications, not least The New York Times, where
just this past Sunday she published an excellent article on
dramatic soprano Nina Stemme.

However, as with only a few other guests in our long history
(Henry Pleasants and George Jellinek come immediately to mind),
Ms. Ellison’s accomplishments are so vast and wide-ranging that
it is impossible to detail them all in a perfunctory paragraph or
two, and we must have recourse to a more official kind of
biography. And we do! (see below)

We can do no better here than to simply print in full a note Ms.
Ellison has sent to us describing what she plans for the VRCS in
June:

“My friends at the VRCS have very kindly invited me to be the
presenter at their monthly gathering this June. And they’ve
assured me that the goal is pretty much sheer fun, so my
presentation need not be remotely objective, linear,
chronological, or scholarly.

“So what I’m putting together is a sort of musical final meal.
If I were to be executed at dawn tomorrow (“come Palmieri”), I’d
feast upon this eclectic menu of both familiar comfort food and
rare exotic treats. Even if you (like most people) couldn’t care
less about what music I love best, you’ll get to hear a flood of
stupendous singing (okay, maybe a little mezzo-heavy) and
precious little yammering. So be there or be square!” – Cori
Ellison

Well, members of the VRCS are never square and always there
(well, maybe not all there), so do plan to be with us for this
much-anticipated program by our very special guest, Cori Ellison.

DATE: FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2012
TIME: 7:45 P.M SHARP
PLACE: CHRIST CHURCH THIRD FLOOR MEETING ROOM, PARK AVE. & 60TH
ST., N.Y.C.

——————-

CORI ELLISON, a leading creative figure in the opera
world, served as Staff Dramaturg at New York City
Opera from 1997-2010, has also served as Dramaturg for
Francesca Zambello’s production of the Ring Cycle at
Washington National Opera, Opera Boston’s production
of Shostakovich’s The Nose, and in 2006 was Dramaturg
for a triple bill of Offenbach operettas at the Bard
Summerscape Festival. In 2005, she co-curated and
narrated soprano Elizabeth Futral’s program “Handel at
Home”, the closing event of the annual Chicago
Humanities Festival, and she curated the Los Angeles
Philharmonic’s opening concert, and all-Beethoven
gala.

Ms. Ellison began her intense involvement in the
development of contemporary American opera through New
York City Opera’s annual VOX American Opera Showcase,
where she helped select and worked with individual
composers and librettists. She has been a core faculty
member at American Lyric Theatre since its founding in
2007, teaching operatic dramaturgy in its Composer
Librettist Development Program. In fall 2009, she co-
founded and led City Opera’s Words First program for
the development of opera librettists. In June 2009,
she was the first opera dramaturg invited to
participate in the inaugural Yale Institute for Music
Theatre. In addition, she is a sought-after private
consultant to numerous composers, librettists,
commissioners, and grant- makers.

Pursuing her interest in nurturing young American
singers, Ms. Ellison has taught dramaturgically-based
master classes at venues including Mannes The New
School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory, Martina
Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance program, Vassar
College, DePaul University, Underworld Productions
Opera, and Opera Singers Initiative. She has also led
seminars for the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young
Artists Program, served as judge for the Metropolitan
Opera National Council auditions, and coaches singers
privately.

Ms. Ellison’s English singing translation of Hansel
and Gretel, commissioned and premiered by New York
City Opera, has also been performed (in a general-use
adaptation recently published by Schott) by companies
including Houston Grand Opera, Atlanta Opera, Austin
Lyric Opera, Kentucky Opera, Berkshire Opera, and
Opera Roanoke. Her singing translation of
Shostakovich’s musical comedy Cheryomushki (Cherry
Tree Towers) premiered at the Bard Summerscape
Festival in August 2004, and her singing translation
of Spontini’s La vestale, commissioned by English
National Opera, premiered there in April 2002.

Ms. Ellison has presented talks and moderated panels
for New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Cincinnati
Opera, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the San Francisco
Opera Guild, Carnegie Hall, Seattle Opera, Dallas
Opera, Opera Southwest, Opera Boston, Glimmerglass
Opera, Bard Summerscape Festival, Opera Orchestra of
New York, Great Performers at Lincoln Center, Mostly
Mozart Festival, Berkshire Choral Festival, American
Opera Projects, Schomburg Center for Black Culture,
Paley Center for Media, Harvard’s American Repertory
Theatre, the New School, Opera Index, the Guggenheim
Museum’s Works and Process series, the Philadelphia
Chamber Music Society, the Japan Societies of New York
and Boston, and the Wagner Societies of New York,
Chicago, Washington, and Northern California, as well
as at The Royal Opera House/Covent Garden, the Covent
Garden Festival, Ireland’s Wexford Festival, and
Switzerland’s Verbier Festival. She has been guest
lecturer for Celebrity Cruises, under the auspices of
the Smithsonian Institution, and on Cunard’s Queen
Mary II, under the auspices of Oxford University. She
has also served on the faculty of The Juilliard
School’s Evening Division, was Adjunct Assistant
Professor of Music at New York University’s School of
Continuing Education, and has often taught for the
Explore New York Elderhostel program.

Ms. Ellison is part of the team that launched the
Metropolitan Opera’s pioneering simultaneous
translation system, Met Titles, and has also authored
opera supertitles for companies including New York
City Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Glimmerglass Opera,
Opera Orchestra of New York, Florida Grand Opera,
Virginia Opera, Berkshire Opera, Des Moines Metro
Opera, Utah Opera, Eos Orchestra, The Juilliard
School, Midamerican Productions, Boston Baroque,
Center For Contemporary Opera, Boston Symphony
Orchestra, Marilyn Horne Foundation, PBS, and WGBH-TV.

Ms. Ellison regularly appears as a commentator and
Opera Quiz panelist on the Metropolitan Opera’s radio
broadcasts, and has been guest commentator on WNYC’s
“Soundcheck” and “The Tristan Mysteries”, WQXR’s
“First Hearing”, and other radio programs. She has
contributed articles to publications including the New
York Times, Opera News, Gramophone, BBC Music, and Ms,
and to books including The New Grove Dictionary of
Opera, The Compleat Mozart, and the Metropolitan Opera
Guide to Opera on Video. She has also been a
contributing writer for PBS’s Metropolitan Opera
Presents TV series.

Since 1998, Ms. Ellison has specialized in the study
of Finnish music and musicians, contributing articles
on Kaija Saariaho and her opera L’amour de loin, the
Kalevala’s impact on Finnish music, Jorma Panula and
the Sibelius Academy, Monica Groop, Osmo Vanska, and
the Savonlinna Festival to the New York Times, as well
as a brief history of classical music in Finland to
the Scandinavian Review. She has also served as a
member of the board of directors of the Sibelius
Society in the United States, Ltd.